Romancing Kise Ryouta
by pinkinmyimagination
Summary: Alternate title: Kise no Harem! The Generation of Miracles are in a fight to the death for Kise's love and affection-which said blond is unsurprisingly oblivious to. A story of love and backstabbing, who will prevail above the rest and claim Kise's heart? Will anyone survive? Will work on a better summary later...
1. Prologue

_Romancing Kise Ryouta_

_Prompt (from the Kuroko no Basuke Meme on tumblr): __Kise No Harem! Everyone's fighting for Kise's attention/affections. Doesn't matter who he ends up with/if he ends up with anyone._

_Also posted on AO3, in case anyone prefers to read off there...? IDK._

* * *

><p>It took Aomine a while to figure out what was going on. Strange things kept happening to him whenever Kise was involved: his heart would speed up at even a stray thought concerning the blond; playing one-on-ones with Kise quickly became his favorite thing to do; he would feel instantly disappointed if Kise canceled on him; his heart would freaking <em>flutter<em> whenever the _stupid_ model flashed him that _stupid_ smile. The list went on and on.

Eventually the Touou student had recognized what was happening. The realization had slammed into him all at once, just a sudden "Oh shit," moment, and he hadn't been able to look at Kise without weird thoughts invading his brain for a week.

He'd been a little freaked out by his feelings at first, but after a while he managed to accept them. He just hadn't been able to own up to them. It was lame, but he was apprehensive of rejection. Not that he needed to be; Kise would readily and openly admit to being _awed_ and _amazed_ by Aomine—that was practically a confession of love in itself.

Unless, of course, it wasn't. Then it was just pure admiration and nothing more.

Dammit.

Obviously Aomine wasn't just going to run up to the blond and yell, "Hey! I'm completely in love with you and I think about you more than basketball and I just noticed how attracted I am to you, so go out with me or else I might die!" Yeah, that would be embarrassing. He'd probably hang himself in shame—_especially_ if Kise rejected him.

But… what else could he do?

* * *

><p>The most reluctant to own up to his attraction towards Kaijou's small forward was definitely Midorima. In fact, he was strongly <em>opposed<em> to the idea. His heart managed to convince him otherwise soon enough.

Midorima was known for putting up a cold front and burying his real feelings under six feet of dirt, yes. That did not mean that tactic was effective for getting _rid_ of these feelings, however, and then he was left with the cold (yet oh-so-warm) knowledge that he had a _crush_ on (was possibly in the _L-word_ with) Kise.

_God. Damn. It._

Kise was the absolute _last_ person Midorima expected himself to fall for—hell, falling for _Takao_ made more sense than falling for Kise. _So how had it happened?_

Oha asa _had_ said something about startling discoveries and unlikely occurrences. Hm.

Still, no matter how he looked at it, he didn't stand a chance at gaining Kise's affections. The blond hardly regarded him with the same warmth as he did Kuroko and Aomine. It was… discouraging. It was also listed as sixth on his (long) list of reasons why things Kise-related were a bad idea.

It didn't help his case that his "tsundere" tendencies caused him to coldly retaliate towards the model. Though there wasn't much he could do about that; it was hard to repress his snappish inclinations.

Even so, it wasn't as if Kise was distant or mean towards him. Contrary, he was still his cheerful (albeit somewhat annoying) self and appeared to enjoy being with Midorima, even if the taller acted as if he hated being with the other. Surely if Kise could look past his insults and harsh statements, there was a chance…?

* * *

><p>To be completely honest, Murasakibara didn't have a really concrete reason for liking Kise as much as he did; he just felt like the blond fit him really well. He wasn't short like Akashi or Kuroko, but he wasn't too tall either. Actually he made a nice head rest sometimes (though Midorima did too). There were a lot of qualities Kise shared with other people, and he managed to bring a lot of the things he liked in the other people he was close with, while omitting a lot of the negative at the same time.<p>

For instance: he listened to what Murasakibara had to say and genuinely took interest like Akashi and Himuro (for the most part), but he didn't have ulterior motives or expect him to care in return. He was nice and bright like Himuro aimed to be, but he was far less angst-ridden and didn't get caught up with personal "complexes".

There's more, but Murasakibara really didn't feel like listing _everything_. That would take too long.

It was a pretty recent discovery on Murasakibara's part. To be fair, he was pretty slow with these things anyway (though nowhere near as slow as Midorima). He only started figuring things out when high school started, and he hardly saw Kise at all. _Then_ he realized how much he appreciated the blond's easygoing attitude.

Though he knew it wouldn't be easy, this was something he didn't want to let go of.

* * *

><p>Kuroko had always had a feeling, but he had never really been one-hundred-percent positive.<p>

At first he _kind_ of thought _maybe_ he liked Aomine, but after several incidents he ruled that as unlikely. Frankly, Aomine could be difficult to be around a lot of the time—especially after aforementioned incidents.

But then during one of Kise's tackle-hugs on the way home from the convenience store, something… happened. Now, maybe this was triggered due to the situation at the time, but something clicked in the pale haired boy's head, and he didn't want the other to let go.

Of course, he had. He'd detached and flocked to Aomine after the tanned boy had stolen his popsicle. And in one quick moment, Kuroko had come to two realizations. The first, he had a crush on his teammate (at the time he'd only been willing to let it be a simple crush, nothing more). The second, Aomine felt the same way towards the same person.

Well.

It had become less and less of a problem as time went on; neither Aomine nor Kuroko had done anything to make themselves known, and the shadow didn't even know if Aomine himself was aware of his own feelings. Kise had been as clueless as Kuroko expected—even towards the less-than-subtle "advances" from the both of them (he uses the term advances lightly).

And Kuroko could have continued on like that just fine, if he hadn't noticed the others' lingering glances, and suddenly a crack had appeared in his carefully constructed wall.

The rest wasn't hard to figure out.

After seeing what he was really up against, Kuroko was newly determined to claim the blond for himself. He would not fall behind again.

* * *

><p>Akashi knows.<p>

Aomine's ongoing desire, Kuroko's misguided affections, Midorima's unwavering crush, Murasakibara's sudden revelation; Akashi Seijuurou knows quite well what his Teikou teammates are feeling towards the ever-so-oblivious Kise.

He knows, and he can't help but laugh.

Ryouta was _his_—or at least, he would be. Soon. _Very, very soon._

How Kise had end up becoming the center of Akashi's affections was a long, complicated story. Or, maybe it wasn't so long. The blond was like a loyal puppy: willing and able to do anything Akashi asked for, just wanting approval and adoration in return. It was like that almost from the start. Akashi had only formally met Kise after he'd become a regular. That was when he had decided on introducing himself and making sure the blond knew his power was absolute. He didn't expect the model's antics to grow on him. It only got worse when Ryouta really started opening up to his teammates and really applied himself. Akashi sometimes found himself smiling fondly whenever the blond would cross his mind and he started to reminisce.

He couldn't keep close enough tabs on Kise as he lived so far away, but he did well, considering. After all, no one denies Akashi Seijuurou.

The others could hope and wish and try all they want, but ultimately Akashi would be the one to sweep Kise off his feet (just because Kise is taller does not mean he can't accomplish such a feat as literally sweeping the other off the ground) and receive all of the blond's adoration and affection. Everyone else will be left behind; Akashi will take Kise to have all to himself.

_You belong to me and me alone._

Languidly, Akashi flips out his cell phone and types out a quick message. He skims it over once before pressing send.

"_I know you all feel the same, but I won't let you have him."_

The responses filter in quickly:

"_You're nuts if you think I'm just going to give him to you."_

"_I won't lose this time."_

"_Don't stand in my way; I'll crush you."_

"_Don't think I'm willing to back off that easily."_

Seijuurou smirks. Kise really has no idea what he's in for.

* * *

><p>Kise Ryouta has always known he has a <em>magnetic<em> personality. He'd always been able to draw people in, whether they were compatible or clashed horribly. He had a special charm that enraptured others, held their attention. Heads would turn whenever he would pass, and he'd give them all a bright, engaging smile.

He didn't think it would backfire on him.

Now he's unwittingly caught the attention and affections of the entirety of the Generation of Miracles, all of whom prepared for a fight to the death to claim him as their own. And he was completely clueless.

Needless to say, this wouldn't be easy for anyone.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Okay, so this is my first story in forever, my first KnB story, and it's also my first prompt fill! Of course this is just a really crappy prologue... Agh._

_So I wrote this in a few hours, and Word really likes to make weird corrections (like somewhere it changed "feat" to "feet". I feel like if it's a real word, it shouldn't need to be corrected. I'm looking at you, autocorrect), so if there are any weird mistakes, that's why. Please tell me if anything needs to be changed, especially in the little beginning part and Akashi's section. Like... ugh. I feel like Akashi and Murasakibara are OOC-big time. But I don't know how to fix it. So take it._

_Anyway, please feel free to leave suggestions for this story! I'm definitely going to need some ideas, lol. The prompt wasn't very specific, so anything goes! :D  
><em>

_Who's going to make the first move? We'll see in the next chapter-whenever that is... *shrugs* Or not. Whatever._

_Thanks for reading! :D_


	2. Chapter 1 - One Rule

_A/N: Updated 5/17/2014  
>I'm still not happy.<em>

* * *

><p>Akashi liked to call the days following his first text message the <em>calm before the storm<em>. Contrary to what one might believe, nothing happened between the six of the Generation of Miracles players for nearly three weeks. No one seemed especially eager to end the stalemate that had settled between them. It was clear to all them (except a certain blond, of course) that no one was particularly inclined to act first. Each had their own reason, but still the outcome was remaining the same. Nothing was happening.

As such, Akashi was bored.

The Rakuzan captain sits quietly at a table inside one of his favorite cafés. He glances at the clock hanging up on the wall, seeing that it's almost time for the others to arrive. He takes a sip of his tea, leaning back in his seat. He had a few things to say to his former teammates—things that will hopefully jumpstart this… _competition_, for lack of better terms.

Normally he would wait for everyone else to show up before making his appearance, but he needed to be sure everyone attended this little "meet up". He could sacrifice one dramatic entry. _For Ryouta,_ he thinks with a smirk. Really, this whole situation is nothing but amusing.

Beside him sits Murasakibara, lazily slumped back in his chair and enjoying one of his beloved snacks. Akashi didn't get the appeal of the cheap, store-bought snacks over the café's delicacies, but he didn't say anything on the matter. It didn't concern him.

The chime on the door jingles, though Akashi doesn't need to look up to know who it is. A seat at his table is pulled out with a screech (drawing a grimace from the newcomer), his new company sitting down lightly. The point guard takes another drink before addressing the other, "Shintarou,"

"Akashi," The green haired male adjusts his frames. "Murasakibara," The giant nods his greeting. Beyond that, no one speaks.

Midorima isn't quite sure why he decided to show up. He realizes he has this same thought every time he's "invited" to meet with his middle school teammates.

But besides that, he especially didn't want to get caught up in whatever Akashi was planning. He didn't need any pointless drama right now—which is surely what the redhead had in mind. He wanted to set things in motion. The only reason he called them out in the first place was to set up this "game".

The chime rings again, and soon Aomine is carelessly pulling out a chair to slump into. "Yo," he greets unenthusiastically. Midorima doesn't bother saying anything, and just offers a nod in acknowledgment.

"Hello, Akashi-kun, Midorima-kun, Murasakibara-kun." Midorima startles at the voice from behind him. _Dammit, how does he always do that!?_

The redhead gives an odd smirk at his reaction. "Good to see you, Tetsuya," Kuroko sits down across from the point guard. "Daiki," Aomine makes a low noise in the back of his throat.

Akashi takes a drink of his tea before looking at his three companions seriously. "Alright," he says to get their attention, even prompting Murasakibara to sit up straighter (if only a little). "Since Ryouta isn't here yet, I would like to lay down a few… _suggestions_, if you will." His expression is clear, but the look in his eye sets off warning bells in Midorima's mind.

Touou's ace snorts. "Suggestions for what?"

"I'm sure you can guess," Their former captain responds. There's a ghost of a smirk playing on his features. "Our new little _game_."

The blue haired teen tenses. "Is that really how you think of this?" He demands, "Just some _game_? That _Kise_ is just a game?"

Akashi raises an eyebrow at the other, but he doesn't look at all surprised. "You seem awfully defensive over a simple comment." He says calmly. "Of course I don't see _Kise_ as a game. But isn't this situation sort of like a game?" He makes a dismissive gesture, "Calm down. You're overreacting." Reluctantly, the older of the two backs down, scowling all the while. The shooting guard manages an eye roll at his behavior.

"_Anyway_, I believe we need to establish some guidelines for how to go about this, yes?" Akashi prompts, looking them all in the eye. Kuroko is the only one who meets his gaze head on. "After all, this is a rather _sensitive_ situation. We wouldn't want anyone walking out with an unfair advantage, right?" His tone seems borderline mocking, and Kuroko tenses ever-so-slightly.

"That doesn't make sense," Aomine protests halfheartedly, though he knows it's useless at this point. Their middle school captain already had everything planned out; there was no way he would budge now. _Stubborn bastard._

Midorima sighs, "Can't we just leave this alone? I don't want to get caught up in this."

The pale haired teen looks up at him. "Does that mean you forfeit?" Even Murasakibara raises an eyebrow at the shooting guard.

"What?" _'Forfeit'?_

"Giving up so soon?" Akashi says in a nearly admonishing tone. "That's no fun." Midorima throws him a flat look and Aomine rolls his eyes. Heterochromatic eyes glance over the three of them again before the Rakuzan student speaks up. "This game's only just started; are you sure you want to skip out?"

"This is not a _game_, dammit," Aomine mutters lowly.

The redhead raises his hands in a gesture displaying he meant no harm. "Regardless, I feel it necessary to clarify what is acceptable." He meets each of their gazes, making sure he has their full attention. "I don't really care what you do, or how you go about trying to 'win Ryouta over'. In fact, I'm willing to let anything slide—well, _almost_ anything. I do have one rule: you can't outright confess to him."

Surprise immediately takes over Aomine's expression. "What? Then how—,"

"We want to leave this up to Ryouta to decide, yes?" The redhead interrupts smoothly. "If someone confessed, he might go out with them regardless if he liked them best or not." It's sound logic—sort of. It makes sense and sounds like Kise, at least, but damn… that makes things harder and easier at the same time.

Akashi glances at something behind them, and he gives a slight smile. "Looks like I've run out of time. We'll discuss this again later." He says, just before the chime above the door sounds, and a flash of yellow catches the tallest's attention.

"Sorry I'm late!" Kise announces, practically collapsing into the chair between Kuroko and Midorima. "You wouldn't believe how many fans I ran into just on the way here; it was a mess!" He says this with a smile, but there's a slightly exasperated light in his eyes. He grabs the menu laying on the table and looks it over. "So what'd I miss?" He glances at them over the top of the laminated paper, "Were you talking about me?"

Midorima stiffens, and averts his gaze. "Who'd waste their breath on you?" He mutters. The blond blinks, seemingly startled by the hostile response.

"So mean, Midorimacchi," he whines, surprise melting into an indignant pout. Midorima gives him a long look. _He's an idiot._ _Why do I even care?_ He doesn't; he shouldn't. Kise is annoying, and he's more trouble than he's worth. _Get out while you still can._ He realizes belatedly that he's glaring at the other. Kise drops his childish expression for one of slight confusion, and he turns away. Aomine scoffs, tossing the shooting guard a weird look.

"This is pointless," Touou's ace drawls. Looking over at Akashi from the corner of his eye, he adds, "Is there a reason you called us _all_ out here?" He still hadn't pieced together the reason for Kise being called as well. If anything, the blond just postponed everything Akashi had to "discuss" with them.

"Actually, there was something I'd like to ask Ryouta," he agrees, turning heterochromatic eyes on the blond in question. "My family's hosting a gala," Akashi explains. "I need a date. Would you accompany me?"

_That bastard._ Though Aomine can't say he's surprised. _Leave it to Akashi to break his own rule moments after he made it 'official'._ What a joke. His eyes dart over to Kise, tense as he waits for the other's response.

Kise blinks almost owlishly at their former captain. "Why would you want me to be your date?" he asks slowly. He looks honestly bewildered, like he's shocked someone would ask him out (actually, maybe his reaction isn't so surprising, considering it's Akashi).

But the redhead smiles disarmingly. "Why wouldn't I?"

Still, Kise looks hesitant and unsure. "Um, if it's alright, then sure," the blond offers a smile of his own, though something's off about it and Aomine can't figure out what it is. "Yeah, just give me the details and I'll make sure I'm not busy."

Smile widening (reminiscent of a classic villain), the redhead settles back in his seat. "Great. I look forward to it."

Kise's phone buzzes, alerting him of an incoming text. He turns, directing his attention to the device, and Aomine whirls on Akashi. _"What the hell?"_ he mouths, practically seething. What a low blow. But the redhead isn't paying attention to him. Instead, he's caught in a silent exchange with Midorima. _Of course._ The only thing those two were trying to do was one-up the other (not that Midorima was presenting himself well anyway). Murasakibara seemed to be watching the two of them inquisitively, which seemed odd for him. Blue eyes drift over to Kuroko, and he finds the shadow staring at him.

Kise lets out a frustrated noise, drawing Aomine's attention again. "Well," the blond starts, "Anybody want to trade places next Monday?"

"What's next Monday?" Kuroko inquires.

"I've got a photoshoot I _really_ don't want to do," the blond complains. "It's for some snack company. They're releasing a new product, and really want me to advertise it. _Plus_ we have to shoot a commercial for the brand on Wednesday." Murasakibara perks up a bit at the mention of new snacks.

"So what's the problem?" Sounds alright to Aomine. He'd just get his picture taken holding the new snack, right? No big deal. Unless Kise liked playing hard to get with his jobs…? Though… that didn't really make sense…

But the blond just gives him a flat look. "You don't even know what the concept is." He points out. _Oh. I hadn't thought about that…_ Kaijou's ace moans, "It's that stupid culture festival all over again,"

Now that catches Aomine's interest. "That stupid culture festival" could only refer to one thing: _the cross-dressing café._ The power forward remembers that culture festival very well (and for more than one reason). Kise had not been blessed with merciful classmates. The girls badly wanted the blond as their own living doll and the boys had wanted to make a fool of him (even at the cost of their own dignity). All-in-all, Kise wore the costume well—too well. Surprisingly, he hadn't complained much about the whole ordeal—but that may have been because he was a lot busier trying to find a way out of the cross-dressing _contest_ his teammates had entered him in (which he won, so there shouldn't have been much pride lost there—maybe).

It seemed like a strange concept for a snack commercial, but then again there were a lot of commercials with those "reveals" at the end. Maybe that's what this one was…? If so, Aomine understood why the blond was so against it.

"_Anyway_," Kise interjects, "thinking of culture festivals reminds me of the maid café Midorimacchi's class put on, and how the girls in his class forced him into that maid dress." He smirks over his shoulder at the green haired teen, whose cheeks quickly redden. _Oh, hadn't that been a fun thing to see…_

"I told you to never bring that up," Midorima snaps. He's wearing an expression very similar to the one he'd worn for the majority of that culture festival—flustered and angry.

"Ah, but Mido-chin made a cute maid," Yosen's center teases, and the green haired teen's face flushes further.

Quickly looking to switch subjects, he adds, "What about the 'Sharing Bears' play Aomine's class performed?"

"That's a low blow," Aomine protests as Kise bursts into laughter.

"I _completely_ forgot about that!"

"Aomine-kun made a very good Grumpy Bear," Kuroko nods.

"Wait, Tetsu was in that play too! He was—wait, what were you again?" The blue haired teen distinctly remembers Kuroko being dragged into the mess that was the "Sharing Bears Teach Grumpy Bear to Smile" production (how the ace had wound up as one of the main characters was a mystery to this very day).

"Ah, I was Sweetie Bear." The pale shadow says. "Though no one could hear my lines, so the others talked over my parts."

And then Kise is fawning over the Seirin student, "That's right! Kurokocchi was so _cute_ in that bear costume!" His grin widens, a sort of devious look settling on his face, "I bet I've got pictures at home! We took a group shot, right? So Midorimacchi's maid costume and Grumpycchi should be in it too,"

"Hell no—don't go digging up stuff _no one_ wants to see _ever again_!" Aomine argues.

But Kise just waves off any concerns, "Re-_lax_, it's not as if I can look for them _now_," He glances at the wall and suddenly shoving himself to his feet. "Shoot, I gotta go," he flashes a dazzling smile, "It was fun hanging out—we should meet up again soon."

In a last-ditch effort, Touou's ace stands as well. "Hey," he starts, scrambling for some excuse to hang out with the blond. "Uh, we should play some one-on-one sometime. 'S been a while,"

The blond blinks at him, looking oddly surprised _(That was normal enough, right?)_, before nodding. "Okay. I'm not busy tomorrow,"

"Cool. I can text you later."

"Sounds good," With that (and an exaggerated wave for good measure), the model leaves the café, and Aomine kinda feels a bit like he's won something. Though when he meets his former shadow's eyes, a chill passes down his spine.

"You can't expect it to be that simple, Aomine-kun." The Seirin student warns. "Don't forget who you're dealing with."

Aomine gives him a challenging look, "The same goes to you." Though he's not sure he's as confident as he sounds.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I tried. Honestly.  
>... JK I gave up.<em>


	3. Chapter 2 - Do or Die

_A/N: I feel bad this took so long, but at the same time I'm just glad it's over and I've got a plan.  
>People are also probs OOC, but I've come to the conclusion that they won't do what I want them to unless they are OOC, sooo...<br>Also, I changed the last chapter (awhile ago), but if you don't want to read it I'll sum up the important points here: Murasakibara was there (but he didn't do anything), there's only one rule (no direct confessing), and Akashi basically asked Kise out on a date, and then there was other stuff that just flat out didn't make sense.  
>If you can't already tell, I mainly wrote this when I was severely sleep-deprived, so yeah. Things that made sense then may not make as much sense now. I tried my best to weed that stuff out, but some things I found too amusing to remove, ahaha.<em>

_Thank you for all the follows/favorites/reviews! They bring dumb smiles to my face whenever I see them~ It always surprises me to see the follower/favorite count, honestly. Like, wow, people actually like something I wrote? Crazy. I forgot how motivating it is to see someone like your work!_

* * *

><p>For Aomine, this was <em>Do or Die<em> day. He had set up a planned one-on-one with Kise for today, snatching the upper hand in the same instance—and he was going to take full advantage of it. When you get the tip-off, you don't hand the ball over to the other team, after all.

(Not to mention Akashi already stuck in his claim, so he really needed to make this happen.)

So here he stands on the basketball court they'd agreed to meet at, waiting for Kise to show up. The other had called and said he'd be late due to a last-minute modeling… thing (just because he was willing to admit he liked Kise didn't mean he was willing to pay attention to every little thing the other had to say. That wasn't going to change).

The day before, Aomine had spent more time than he'd be willing to admit thinking up appropriate date-but-not-really-date ideas—and then promptly forgotten them all once he'd woken up the next morning. As such, he has no idea what he's going to do—except play basketball. Everything else he thought of sounded so damn lame. He wouldn't be able to, er, _seduce_ (for lack of better words) someone like Kise with simple, stupid stuff like a movie and dinner, right? He was a model; he was probably used to that stuff—_immune_ to it even. He frowns. _So what do I do?_

Aomine is not a romantic—not in the slightest. He'd never really dated anyone before, too preoccupied with basketball and gravure magazines to pay attention to some ditzy girl (no matter how big her boobs were). He had no experience in "the field". Hell, all the pickup lines he'd been working on were shoddy at best, and absolutely horrendous at worst—sometimes borderline insulting. He was working with pure personality alone, and everybody _always_ liked to point out how _terrible_ his was…

_Shit._ So far _Do or Die_ day was not looking that great for him, and he hadn't even seen Kise yet. But he couldn't let that get him down. He had a tendency to go against any plans in place anyway—even if they were his own. He'd just wing it. That would probably work better anyway; Kise could be unpredictable sometimes (read: a lot of the time).

The power forward dribbles the ball in his hands, lining up his shot. Basketball always helped clear his head of outside distractions; he figured now shouldn't be an exception. He just needs to stop thinking about it. _Yeah._

…

… Okay maybe that wasn't so easy. _Dammit, Kise._

Aomine lets out a long breath, easing the tension in his body. This really shouldn't be so difficult. He drops the ball haphazardly and runs a hand through his hair. _Don't get worked up._

But then he catches a flash of yellow out of the corner of his eye and hears the cheerful call of "Aominecchi!" and his heart just sort of stops for a moment before pounding hard and _what the hell is wrong with me?_

A bright grin graces Kise's features as he approaches. "I hope you weren't waiting too long," he says as Aomine turns to face him. "I got here as soon as I could."

The taller male swallows, giving a half shrug. "I got here a few minutes ago." he lies. You're supposed to say that, right? Right. But Kise laughs knowingly, like he can tell that wasn't true. Quickly looking to change the subject, he adds, "So, uh, how was your, uh, thing?" _Wait—why am I making small talk?_

Kise gives him an odd, but still amused look. "My 'thing' went well. Though I'd rather be here," And then that odd look is replaced with a strangely soft smile, and suddenly Aomine swallows again as something in his chest tightens almost painfully. _What the _hell_ is _wrong_ with me!?_

"What's that face for?" he asks, trying to keep his voice even.

But the blond just waves him off, smile widening (_and Aomine is only a little disappointed, really_). "Nothing, nothing," he assures, "Let's just play. You brought a ball, right?" Aomine nods, pointing in the direction it had rolled off in. Kise rolls his eyes as he moves to retrieve it.

Watching the other's back, Aomine can't keep his thoughts from roaming again. Kise seems to be in an especially good mood, and the power forward kind of just wants to blurt out what he's thinking right here and now. Akashi's words echo through his mind in warning, but screw him. Who says he has to find out anyway? There's no one here to _tell_ on him.

Hell, this could be so damn _easy_.

So when Kise comes back with the basketball in hand, Aomine swallows down any doubts that could be lingering in his mind and says, "Kise, I really need to tell you something."

Seeing his serious expression, the smile drops from the small forward's face. "What? Is something wrong?"

"No," he assures, "it's just," _No turning back now._ But somehow it doesn't _feel _right, like this isn't the right time—or maybe it's not the right place; something just feels off. But can he really afford to wait? He steels himself, "Kise, I—,"

The world sort of blacks out for a moment, and when the blue haired teen is next aware, he finds himself sprawled out on the court, head throbbing. His senses are hazy as he blinks slowly with a grimace. _How'd I end up on the ground…?_ A familiar voice filters through the fog, "What were you even aiming for!?" The tanned male groans. _Shit._

"Aominecchi, are you okay?" Kise is by his side in an instant, leaning over him with a concerned expression. "That's going to be one big bruise…"

The taller pushes himself into an upright sitting position, "'M fine," he mutters, directing a scowl at the neighboring court where two unwelcome newcomers stand (though they might've been here the whole time, who knows): Seirin's light and shadow.

"That was a powerful shot, Kurokocchi," Kise comments idly, eyeing the lump forming on Aomine's head with a wince.

"It would have been more impressive if it hadn't hit me," Touou's ace gripes.

Kuroko and Kagami approach, and Aomine sees a satisfied light in the older boy's eyes. "Ah, my bad, Aomine-kun." The tanned teen's eyes narrow. _The bastard could at least _try_ to look sorry_ (of course he knows the other isn't sorry in the least, but whatever).

"What a coincidence that you guys are here too," Kise says, though his tone suggests he didn't think it was coincidental at all. Aomine frowns.

Kagami nods. "Yeah, didn't think I'd see you guys here."

There's a brief silence in which Aomine and Kuroko keep up a sort of stare off, both challenging in one way or another. The taller glares while the shadow remains passive in appearance. Kise glances between the two. "Um, since we're here," he starts, "we could play some two-on-two, or something…?" The taller power forward suppresses a grimace. The only way he'd agree to that was if Kise was—

"Then Kise-kun and I will play against Kagami-kun and Aomine-kun," Kuroko says, latching on to the small forward's arm. The blond blinks in surprise.

"Eh? Kurokocchi—,"

"No way," Aomine interrupts, leveling a defiant glare on his former shadow. "Kise's with me." No way in hell was he letting Kuroko butt in on this. He can get his own _Do or Die_ day. "Besides, I couldn't team up with Bakagami if our lives depended on it." Kagami shrugs in begrudging agreement. It hadn't worked out well last time.

But Kuroko isn't keen on giving in either. "It would be a good exercise for you."

"But he's your teammate," Aomine argues, "you play with him!"

"Which is exactly why _you_ should pair up. Kagami-kun and I play together all the time."

"Do I look like I care? I'm not being on a team with him!"

"It's only a short two-on-two. Be the bigger man, Aomine-kun."

"Don't pull that shit with me, Tetsu!"

Much to his chagrin, Kagami looks a bit offended. "Are you guys seriously that against playing with me?"

Kise steps in, pulling his arm away from Kuroko. "Uh, then maybe Kagamicchi and I should be a team…?" he suggests, glancing between the three. He gives his two former teammates questioning looks, receiving a hard stare from the taller and an impassive expression from the shadow.

Aomine starts to protest as Kagami shrugs. "Considering you're the only one who doesn't mind, I guess that's how we have to play." the redhead says, and it's all decided, much to Aomine's dismay. The navy eyed teen scowls at Kuroko as Kise and Kagami walk off to the middle of the court. The shadow shrugs—_just shrugs_.

"You act like you don't care," the Touou student hisses.

"As long as it's not you, it's fine." Kuroko says smoothly, and turns to walk over to join the others. Aomine leers after him.

This was not how he wanted to spend his afternoon.

* * *

><p>All in all, the game ended up being more like a two-on-one.<p>

Generally Kuroko isn't really good in those types of situations anyway, though he's gotten better. It doesn't really help that Aomine was pissed off at him either—or that Kagami was pretty consistent in detecting his presence on court. In any case, the shadow mostly just stood on the side of the court and watched. It was a small price to pay for insuring Aomine didn't do anything stupid—like confess.

He knew his former light would pull something right off the bat. It was the power forward's style—brash and unthinking. So he had to keep that from happening. That wasn't to say it had been his idea. No, Kagami had been the one to suggest they play. It just so happened that his light had wanted to play at the same court Aomine and Kise were at.

And now here they are.

"I can't believe we lost."

The four stand outside a convenience store near the park. They'd decided (read: Kagami had suggested and Kise had agreed) to stop for ice cream before going back home. To say the least, Aomine was less than pleased. Still, he came along with minimal _outward_ complaint, as Kise had begun resorting to dragging him along by the arm. The action had been reminiscent of a child pulling his mother towards the toy isle in a store. Kagami had scoffed; Kuroko had not.

"It's your fault for losing my lead," Kise complains. Kagami protests, but goes unheard. The blond cuts him off before he can really get started, "Anyway, you should quit stalling and buy our ice cream." He glances over at the dark haired teen beside him, who shrugs. Somehow the two power forwards had been "recruited" to treat the blond and the shadow.

"I'm not in any hurry," Aomine says lowly, giving Kuroko a pointed look. The shadow returns it with a bland expression. He knows Aomine is reluctant to leave the two alone after today's incidents. It didn't matter, though; Kuroko certainly wasn't going to do anything.

Kagami waves dissmissively. "Come on." He leads an unenthusiastic blue haired ace inside the small store, Touou's ace shooting a warning look to his former teammate (which goes unnoticed by the blond).

Once they're inside, Kise turns to Kuroko. "Hey, that was a pretty fun game, huh?" he says, somehow… prompting, earnest. Kuroko is cautious as he nods. A disarming, friendly smile is on the other's features, but the Seirin student is aware of the underlying intent in those golden eyes trained on him. "You and Aominecchi played really well together."

That's a lie. Aomine had been actively keeping the ball _away_ from Kuroko. But if only to placate the other, Kuroko offers up, "Yes. It's been a while since we've played cooperatively." _Though the streak still stands…_

Kise nods maybe a bit too vigorously. "I know! I mean, you and Kagamicchi are a great team, but I don't know. There's just something about watching you and Aominecchi play that's so… _different_, is all I can think to say." His eyes dart away, brows pulling together in thought as he reaches for the right words.

_He's exaggerating, right?_ He has to be; there was nothing special about today. It was easy for him to see Kuroko didn't even touch the ball, wasn't it? That's hardly cooperative play. _Unless…_

Unless he'd only been focused on Aomine; unless he didn't notice Kuroko off to the side; unless he really only thought Aomine was the amazing one.

"Ah," The blond seems to give up, shrugging uselessly before letting his hands fall back to his sides. "Aominecchi's just that cool, I guess." This conversation is veering off into territory Kuroko is desperate to avoid.

"Have you talked to Akashi-kun since he invited you?" Kuroko wants to smack himself, which is odd considering most of the time he wants to smack the idiots around him (he keeps that inside, for the most part). He's never been one to blurt out random thoughts.

Kise sort of draws back, and Kuroko can see his posture stiffen. "Uh, yeah. He called last night. Why?"

"You seemed uncomfortable when he asked you," the shadow comments, trying to recall the day before. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it." _And see if I can get any useful information._

The blond shrugs, "I'm… I'm not _uncomfortable_," he says, not really meeting the other's eyes. "It's fine. I guess I just don't understand why he asked me to go," His smile becomes more strained. The pale haired teen keeps his expression clear, though internally thoughts are swirling in his mind. _What did Akashi-kun tell him? Why does Kise-kun seem so apprehensive about going to Akashi-kun's party?_ But then the Kaijou student relaxes and changes the subject. "But Aominecchi—,"

Not thinking, Kuroko's hand reaches out to grip one of Kise's. The taller boy cuts himself off in his surprise, his golden eyes questioning as he gazes at the boy in front of him. "It was nice running into you today, Kise-kun." Kuroko says, realizing how stupid this must seem. "We should hang out more often. I… miss having you around all the time."

Kise is frozen for several, several moments. He doesn't even blink. Kuroko wonders if he's having some sort of mini-seizure. He's about to ask if the other's alright when a wide smile threatens to split Kise's face in half. Kaijou's ace practically throws himself at the smaller boy, yanking Kuroko into a suffocating hug. It's fleeting, but he recognizes the _relief_ shining in golden eyes. "I miss Kurokocchi too!" And, wow, yes, this is sort of a painful hug. It's kind of awkward too, his face pressed into Kise's chest like this. _He smells like perfume._ It's kind of odd. He'd just been playing basketball; shouldn't he be all gross and sweaty? And then he realizes that's sort of a strange thing to think.

But at the same time he thinks, _what if this is _my_ chance?_

His only goal was to keep Aomine from doing anything; he'd never intended to get the blond alone like this. _So why not?_ He wouldn't break any rules; Akashi had only said they weren't allowed to confess _directly_. He never said anything about _indirect_ confessing—or anything else like that.

The shadow is weighing the consequences of returning the hug when Kise begins to pull away. Kuroko blindly grabs at the other's shirt, "Wait," He blurts out, surprising them both. _Ah, this isn't good._ He hadn't been thinking; he was still stuck on thinking about what he was _going _to do, rather than what he was _currently_ doing. He tries to relax his grip, though Kise's arms remain wrapped loosely around him.

"Kurokocchi?" His voice, which had been loud and jubilant moments ago, is now soft with an undertone of concern. "Are you okay?" To be honest, yes, Kuroko is pretty content just standing here like this. With Kise's grip more relaxed than crushing, it's admittedly nice. He feels uncharacteristically clingy and just wants Kise to indulge him.

So he nods his head, "Yes, I'm alright." He assures. His own pale arms tentatively reach around to embrace the taller teen. "I just wanted to stay like this for another moment," The shadow twists his head up to see the other's expression. _That was as good as indirect confessions get_, he muses to himself. Actually, their previous conversation was a fairly good indirect confession. Honestly, Kise would have to be _extremely_ dense to not recognize the shadow's feelings. He's surprised, however, as Kise gazes down at him with something akin to sympathy.

"Okay, whatever you say," The blond smiles, but there's something really _off_ about it, and Kuroko can't decipher it. He opens his mouth to say something, pulling back slightly himself, when they're suddenly forced apart.

Kise lets out a startled noise as Aomine hauls him back. "Oi. How long did you think we'd be gone?" He's glaring heatedly at the Seirin student, and Kuroko returns it with a flat stare.

"Aww," Kise coos, a cheeky grin breaking out on his face. "Is Aominecchi jealous?" He twists around, leaning over to wrap his arms around the taller male's middle. "You can have a hug too~!"

Aomine's face flushes and he shoves the blond back. "Cut it out," he says. Kise whines, though Kuroko cuts him off.

"Where's Kagami-kun?"

"I left him inside."

"Aominecchi! How could you?" Kise frowns disapprovingly.

The Touou student shrugs. "So what? It's not like I went far,"

A sudden shout of, "Ahomine, you asshole!" cuts off further debate. Kagami rushes up to them, glaring at said asshole. "Don't just leave me like that!"

The tanned male rolls his eyes. "Whatever. You still got the ice cream, right?" The redhead nods and lifts his hand, waving three packages of ice cream. Dark eyebrows pull together in slight confusion as Aomine asks, "Why are there only three?"

"I never agreed to get _you_ any," Kagami says simply as he hands a package to Kuroko and Kise.

Aomine actually looks kind of upset. "Who's the asshole now!?"

"Still you,"

"Bastard—!"

Kise sighs, amused, as he pulls open his ice cream. "Here," he says, breaking it in half and handing over one half to the taller power forward. "You can have some of mine, okay? So don't whine about it."

Touou's power forward takes the treat from the blond, a sort of faraway look crossing his features. It's quickly brushed aside, however, and Aomine takes a large bite out of the ice cream. "I don't even like this flavor," he mumbles, though his face contains a barely noticeable red tint. The blond hums his acknowledgement, looking too fond for the shadow's liking.

As discreetly as possible, Kuroko guides Kise forward, "It's getting late," _it's not,_ "We should probably get back home." Aomine and Kagami follow behind after them, both annoyed for different reasons.

"Already?" Kise pouts, but quickly concedes. "Yeah, I'm busy tomorrow anyway." He pulls a displeased face.

As usual, Kise leads the conversation as they walk down to the station. He and Kagami get into a discussion about upcoming movies they're looking forward to, with the two blue haired teens offering up their opinions every now and then (in which both Kise and Kagami are highly critical of Aomine's choices and Kise offers positive input on the movies Kuroko brings up). That conversation takes up most of the walk, and soon they've reached their destination. The blond offers each of them an over-affectionate hug goodbye before parting ways.

"I'll hold you to your word, Kurokocchi!" He calls just before he leaves. Kuroko merely waves. Aomine gives him a _look_, but otherwise doesn't say anything. Kagami glances between them, looking at the other power forward strangely.

"I'm gonna take off too," the redhead says. "I've got stuff to do before tomorrow…" he trails off when he realizes neither of the two are paying attention. There's a pause as he futilely waits for them to snap back into reality. They don't. "Okay, see you later,"

Once he's gone, Aomine takes the opportunity to speak. "You're such a little bastard, Tetsu."

"I wouldn't have had to intervene if you hadn't tried to confess." And it's true (for the most part). Kuroko would have (probably) left the two alone if the Touou student hadn't tried to break the one and only rule. He was looking out for his former light, honestly (read: not strictly).

"I wasn't—," he cuts himself off. They both knew lying about the previous incidents was useless at this point. "Still, that doesn't give you the right."

"I'm sure Akashi-kun would disagree." The power forward grimaces and seats himself on a nearby bench. He leans back heavily, head resting on the back of the bench.

"Don't stand there and tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing." He retorts lowly, nonetheless letting out a resigned sigh. Kuroko doesn't bother responding; he can't exactly refute, after all. If their roles had been reversed, there may have been a slight chance the shadow would have thrown caution to the wind and expressed his feelings. Then again, Kuroko was more wary of Akashi's warnings than the power forward should be. The ace was too brash, too reckless; he'd get himself in real trouble one day.

That isn't to say he _hadn't_ gotten in trouble before; no, that was quite the opposite. It was mostly minor things, however. But the way he was so quick to take action and slow to think of the outcome could work in someone else's favor, if manipulated correctly. Kuroko squashes the thought; he'd try to play nice.

Aomine over at the shadow from the corner of his eye as his former teammate also sits down on the bench. "Hey," he starts in a quiet tone. The look on his face is completely serious. "You aren't really going to listen to him, are you?" Kuroko simply blinks. "So what if he thinks it's 'wrong'? That isn't how this stuff works, y'know?" Dark eyebrows furrow, "At least, I'm pretty sure…"

"What do you mean?"

He shrugs, albeit a bit awkwardly in his current position. Instead of elaborating his point, he says, "A bastard like him can't really _like_ someone, can he?"

"Just because you don't like Akashi-kun doesn't mean he can't have feelings for someone as well." Kuroko points out. _Still…_ "It is odd that _all_ of us have the same feelings for Kise-kun," _Though is it really, all things considered…?_ The blond had a magnetic personality specially _crafted_ to draw people in—it was practically his _job_ to get others to fall for him. Was it so surprising they had fallen hook, line, and sinker for it?

_Though even Akashi-kun…?_

"Tch, no kidding. Guess it's got something to do with why he's so popular." Aomine shakes his head, closing his eyes. "_Everybody_ likes Kise." Everybody: as in cute, busty girls who'd drop everything and flock to him at a moment's notice. He was pretty enough to coerce any _guy_ to be with him. Who's to say _any_ of them can compete with that?

The tanned male sighs. "You know… I'm not sure whether I like the idea of chasing him or not. It seems… backwards." His brows pull together in thought again. Kuroko is mildly surprised the other hasn't had an aneurysm from all the thinking he's done.

But maybe he has a point.

Kuroko can only offer another shrug in reply. "Kise-kun doesn't chase me like he chases you." He thinks the other tenses at his words.

"Yeah…"

They fall silent after that, simply lost in their own thoughts. Seirin's passing specialist is surprised Touou's power forward isn't angry with him—if anything, the other just seems disappointed, frustrated. Kuroko would say he shares the sentiment, though that would be a slight lie. He's frustrated at himself for underestimating Kise's obliviousness, yes, but he also feels a slight satisfaction knowing he had accomplished more than his former light. Honestly, wasn't that today's goal?

But now it really is getting late, and Kuroko needed to buy that special dog food for Nigou before the store closed. So he stands and offers a quick, "Goodbye, Aomine-kun," and leaves after he receives a noncommittal grunt in reply.

He doesn't know what's going through the ace's head; frankly, he doesn't care. It's irrelevant. Because Kuroko won't let this slip away.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Kagami is only here to keep me sane.  
>Funny story: I couldn't figure out what to write so I just randomly started writing things I don't like about Aomine, and lo and behold, inspiration had struck!<br>I feel like Kuroko is insanely OOC, but I really can't write his character type at all, so I just... kinda... give up.  
>On the subject of giving up, does anyone care about MuraKise as much, because I am extremely stuck on that front. So unless someone has some ideas they're willing to share, I'm just gonna push it to the very (very, very) bottom of my priority list...<br>_

_Regardless of all that, I hope you enjoyed at least a little bit! I hope to get the next chapter up sooner, but don't hold me to it, orz.__  
><em>


	4. Chapter 3 - Dutch Courage

_A/N: I'm so sorry.  
><em>

* * *

><p>For such a blockhead, Kagami is surprisingly observant.<p>

"You like him, don't you?"

Aomine stills from his position inside the convenience store's freezer. He glances up to look at the redhead behind him. "What are you talking about?" he asks, keeping his tone even. Kagami could have a tendency to think out loud sometimes; who's to say the other is talking about him?

But Seirin's ace is staring squarely at him as he shrugs. "It's kinda obvious," he replies simply. "You've been giving him weird looks all day."

"So what?" Aomine turns back around. He hopes the embarrassed heat in his face isn't visible.

"You should just tell him," the other power forward insists, "He isn't good with subtlety, y'know. You need to tell him outright, or he won't think you're serious." The redhead pauses, as if not sure he wants to further breach the subject. "I'm pretty sure he likes you back anyway,"

Here Aomine straightens up and faces the other fully. "What the hell? Why do you care?" He may be making good points, but seriously, where is this coming from? Kagami never struck him as one to play matchmaker.

Now it's Kagami's turn to glance away. "Uh, well, he's just been… kinda out of it lately, and I can tell something's been going on with him and… I dunno, you're a regular cause of his problems." Red eyes dart over to meet navy in a defensive glare. "He's my friend too, y'know. I care about him, and if you two getting together helps, then whatever."

Aomine can only stare at the blushing ace in shock because wow, okay, that could have been encouraging or something. Who thought he'd have Kagami in his corner? But then again, that brings another, less comforting thought. _If even this idiot can figure me out, then who else knows!?_

"Well if you're so good at this stuff, what do you think I should do?" Aomine challenges-slash-honestly-asks-for-advice-because-he-has-no-idea-what-he's-doing.

"Why should I do everything for you?" The redhead retorts. "Do I look like an expert?"

"Then don't bring it up, dumbass." He rolls his eyes as he tosses the frozen treats he'd retrieved at the other and walks towards the pay counter. Did he really expect Kagami to have romantic advice? He was quite possibly even more hopeless than Aomine.

Once the two get to the front of the store, the blue haired male turns to the other ace. "I'll leave you to pay for those," and walks out without a second thought. He's not a hundred percent sure leaving the two outside was a great idea, and it's not like Kagami needs his help paying (hell, the redhead should be able to handle the entire trip on his own—why'd Aomine have to go with him?).

His predictions turn out to be more-or-less correct as he finds the two in an actually pretty awkward embrace. He's a bit incensed, to be honest. He'd only been gone a few minutes, and yet Tetsu's already tried to make a move (if you can consider this an advance. Kise passes out hugs left and right to the shadow anyway). "Oi," he says after pulling them apart, "how long did you think we'd be gone?" It's directed at Kuroko, though the shadow doesn't respond to him.

Kise smiles cheekily, pulling at his attention. "Aww, is Aominecchi jealous? You can have a hug too~!" And then the idiot blond is nuzzling his face into the power forward's middle, and he's _too close_.

He shoves the blond away, frowning at the way Kise smirks at him. "Cut it out." Kise fakes a whine. The ace is wary of things that might-or-might-not have been said, and he's actually kind of concerned. Tetsu is a sly bastard; he's spent too much time with Akashi. He may play a fair fight on court, but it's entirely different when there's no referee and plenty of loopholes.

Not that this is a game—because it's not (damn Akashi planting words in his head).

Kagami comes back surprisingly fast, glaring heatedly at him. "Don't just leave me like that!" He yells, though Aomine couldn't care less. He does care, however, about the fact that the dumbass didn't get him any ice cream. _Jerk move, Bakagami._ Still, the frustrated look the redhead throws at Kise doesn't slip his attention. _What could that be about?_ He's about to press when Kise sighs and turns to him with a sort-of-fond expression.

"Here," he says, handing over half of his ice cream, "You can have some of mine, okay? So don't whine about it," Aomine takes the treat, and a sort of nostalgia hits him. It feels kinda like middle school when they'd go out for ice cream after practice. He'd take some of Kise's sometimes, even if he had his own. Kise would whine about it, but he was never really upset. It was just another side to their (complicated) relationship. The ace sort of pauses before shoving those thoughts back and taking a huge bite of the cold treat. _Don't think about that stuff._

"I don't even like this flavor," he mumbles around a mouthful of ice cream. Kise lets out a soft laugh. He seems subdued—contemplative, maybe. Aomine briefly wonders if the thoughts that cross the blond's mind mirrored his own.

Tetsu catches his eye as he moves closer to Kise, gently ushering the blond forward. Kise doesn't seem to notice as he snaps out of his own little trance and chatters on about some work-related incident (or something like that). Aomine frowns as he's once again forced beside Kagami. _Really, this was supposed to be _my _day…_ Oh well. Kise turns to give him this natural, easy smile, and Aomine sort of gets lost in it. The blond is pulled back into the conversation, laughing at something said between the Seirin duo, and the moment is gone.

The three of them walk Kise to the station. Kise makes them promise to hang out again soon. Aomine thinks maybe Kise hesitates when he hugs him goodbye (because simple waves aren't enough for the blond), and he says, "I had fun today, Aominecchi,"

"Yeah," the blue haired ace manages in reply, "We should do this more often." Kise pulls away, offering (another) weird expression (when did he get so hard to read?) before turning to Seirin's light and shadow to say bye to them as well.

When Kise is gone and Bakagami is out of sight, Aomine addresses Kuroko. "You're such a little bastard."

"I wouldn't have had to intervene if you hadn't tried to confess," Aomine wants to call bullshit on that, especially when he isn't sure of what happened during Tetsu's and Kise's exchange outside the convenience store, but he holds himself back. He doesn't really have the will to fight with the other right now. That doesn't mean he isn't willing to show his irritation.

"Don't stand there and tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing." He retorts lowly from where he's seated himself on a nearby bench. Hell, he's fairly sure the other _had_ done what he had tried. And that pisses him off, because how _unfair_ is that?

Then again, he supposed the shadow would be a little more smug if he had successfully tried something. So maybe…?

After a few moments of silence, Aomine finds himself glancing over at his former shadow from the corner of his eye. "Hey, you aren't really going to listen to him, are you?" Kuroko blinks inquiringly. "So what if he thinks it's 'wrong'? That isn't how this stuff works, y'know? At least, I'm pretty sure…"

"What do you mean?" The pale haired teen questions softly.

Aomine could think of several answers to that inquiry, all of them ending with him questioning their former captain's morals about the situation. Because to be honest, this feels weird to the power forward. Like, why do this now? Why do this at all? If Akashi really liked Kise, would he really call them all out like this to—to _compete_? Aomine hates using a word like that to describe this _thing_ the five of them are involved in, but that's the vibe he's getting from the Rakuzan captain. He's heard of love being called a game, but he doesn't want to think of _Kise_ as something so trivial. Kise is a person, but more than that, he's important to Aomine. It's kind of like his outlook on basketball: It's not just a sport or a game; it's his life (not that Aomine would describe Kise like that).

But the thought of explaining all of that to Tetsu is a pain, so instead he just shrugs. "A bastard like him can't _really_ like someone, can he?"

"Just because you don't like Akashi-kun doesn't mean he can't have feelings for someone as well. Though… it is odd that all of us have the same feelings for Kise-kun," the shadow concedes.

"Tch, no kidding. Guess it's got something to do with why he's so popular. _Everybody likes Kise._" The words feel heavy on his tongue. Life could be so unfair.

The tanned male sighs. "You know… I'm not sure whether I like the idea of chasing him or not. It seems… backwards." Kise was always the one chasing _him_. To some extent, he takes comfort knowing when he turns back, he'll see Kise right there behind him. Now he feels like he's on the other end, and while the blond seems to be in his reach, it's still so unclear on whether or not he'll actually be able to make it back to Kise's side (he gives props to the blond for sticking with it for so long). He doesn't like the uncertainty. Role-reversal wasn't something he was fond of.

Kuroko only shrugs. "Kise-kun doesn't chase me like he chases you." Aomine tenses. _I shouldn't have said that out loud._

"Yeah…"

Tetsu leaves soon after that, leaving Aomine with his thoughts. _Okay, so to recap today's events, I didn't spend any alone time with Kise._ Great. Though he supposes making a "date" out of a one-on-one was destined for romantic failure. _It's Tetsu's fault, though._ But, if he had asked Kise to do something else, like…

…

…

Goddammit.

He groans. This totally isn't his area of expertise; he's feeling possibly the slightest bit out-classed—especially when Tetsu has Kise wrapped around his finger.

"What the hell," he mutters under his breath. He stays slumped against the bench for a few more moments, trying to block out his own thoughts (normally it isn't so difficult). After a while he hears the soft _ping_ of his cell phone, alerting him of a new text message. Reluctantly, he pulls the device out of his pocket.

_bakagami [19:54]: ask him to the festival on sunday_

Touou's ace stares flatly down at the message. _Festival?_ Right, there was something like that going on this weekend, wasn't there. He remembered Satsuki talking about it at some point. It wasn't like a big thing, just some little festival being put on along one of the beaches in the Tottori prefecture. It seemed like a rather long trip over for what would likely be only a couple hours, as well as a little cheesy. _But, hell, what do I know?_

* * *

><p>Besides a few of the regular text messages (IE the usual greetings and emoticons via Kise), Aomine hasn't actually talked to the blond since the little one-on-one… thing. Kise had said he'd been busy on Monday, so he didn't bother, and then it somehow slipped his mind Tuesday, and then Satsuki cornered him on Wednesday and dragged him out to go shopping (in which she didn't buy anything except some singing toothbrush that he thought only Midorima would have as a crappy lucky item), and then suddenly it was Thursday and he hadn't even tried to talk to Kise.<p>

So he decided he'd pay the blond an impromptu visit. He had the day off from practice; that would give him more than enough time to hitch a train to Kanagawa before Kaijou's practice ended. Aomine figured Kise would be the sappy type to appreciate a gesture like that.

Luckily he manages to get to the school without much complication (there were some bratty kids causing a scene at the station; nothing major). Somehow, he expected it to be harder than it was.

Practice hasn't quite ended as he enters the gym. It seems as though they're wrapping up a mock game, and the power forward watches as Kise pulls off a jump shot reminiscent of one of Midorima's. The blond doesn't notice Aomine right away, but other players off court sure as hell do. They make a point of staring at and murmuring about him. He doesn't pay much attention to them, of course, and moves closer to the edge of the gym.

Kise doesn't notice him when the practice ends, nor does he glance over before he engages in razzing his senpai over the "win." The captain—Kasamatsu—hits the blond over the head, saying something about modesty and showoff-y freshmen. Kise pouts, but can't keep up the hurt façade.

It's only when one of his other teammates approach him that the blond's attention is finally directed towards Aomine. Golden eyes zero in on the tanned ace, surprise clear in his expression. But he smiles soon enough and waves as he runs over.

"Aominecchi! What are you doing here?" He asks, head tilting to the side. But then his smile turns into a teasing grin, as if he'd put two-and-two together. "Miss me already?"

"Idiot," Aomine responds. He doesn't want the blond getting a big head over the ace coming to see him. "I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd drop by." The model's grin widens. He decides to change the subject before Kise can tease him further, "What are you doing after this?"

The blond blinks, smile mellowing out. "I was gonna head home, of course. I'm wore out." He looks a bit apologetic. "Sorry."

"For what?" Aomine asks, shifting his weight back.

Kaijou's ace shrugs. "You came for a one-on-one, right?"

The tanned male shakes his head, "Like I said, I'm just killing time. Your practice is over, right?" The blond nods. "Then hurry up and get changed. I'll treat you to dinner." Kise goes slack-jawed, seeming utterly shocked. Aomine feels heat rise to rise face. "What!?"

"Sorry, I'm just surprised!" Kise explains, hands raised in surrender. "Normally I'm the one trying to entice you to hang out," He grins wryly. "But that sounds good—just let me get changed, okay? Wait here."

* * *

><p>Kise is noticeably quieter than usual as the two walk side-by-side through the streets of Kanagawa in search of some place to eat. Aomine glances at him from the corner of his eye from time-to-time, mostly during lapses in conversation. While the blond keeps upbeat, he seems somewhat weighed down. But it's not like Aomine's one-hundred percent there either. Stupid Bakagami's words echo in his head, as if taunting him. <em>"He's not good with subtlety."<em> What the hell does Kagami know about Kise? If anyone should know Kise, it would be Aomine. But still… there was a certain confidence behind his words, even when he'd said he was "pretty sure" Kise liked him back. That should instill some self-assurance in Touou's ace, right?

"—pretty good; they're kinda like Majis, but more expensive." Kise looks expectantly at the taller male, and Aomine realizes he's zoned out a little too much. "I mean, I shouldn't say it like that. It's better quality, I guess."

"Uh, sure," Aomine agrees blindly, not really caring. He may be the one paying, but Kise ate light anyway, and he was planning on eating at home later.

A coy smile pulls at the blond's lips, "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

_Busted._ "You said it was like Majis," he replies, trying to refute the statement. Kise laughs and tugs him forward, presumably in the direction of the restaurant. "You're zoning out too," he accuses half-heartedly, mumbling under his breath.

Kise somehow hears anyway and apologizes. "Ah, sorry. I've got a lot going on right now, I could use a break." He stops in front of a small building, fluidly pulling the door open for the blue haired teen. "Ladies first," he teases.

"You're more of a girl than I am," Aomine counters, grabbing the door and pushing the blond inside just to spite him. They find a small booth towards the back and sit down. As the place isn't busy, they're waited on almost immediately. The waitress is quick to bring their drinks, and Aomine notices she's pretty cute (and then he notices the way she's eyeing Kise up). He's quick to dismiss her, though Kise is more polite about it.

As she walks away again, Kise turns back to the teen across from him. "So, how are things between you and Kurokocchi?" he inquires as he stabs his straw into his water.

Aomine bristles, "What do you mean?" Why would he want to know about him and Tetsu? He wasn't suspicious, was he? Would Akashi be upset if Kise managed to unravel this on his own?

The blond shrugs, taking a quick drink before pushing his glass back. "I thought you guys had made up after the Winter Cup, but you were acting weird last weekend." He levels the other with a questioning stare, while Aomine returns it with one of forced nonchalance. "So what's up with that?"

"We're just… in a disagreement over something," he offers ambiguously. It's close enough to the truth, anyway; they were disagreeing over who should get to go out with Kise or… whatever. Actually, that's something he hasn't really thought about.

Kise hums thoughtfully. "It must be important if it's got you so tense," he retracts the straw from his drink and lets flecks of water drip onto the power forward's arm before plunking it back into the cup. "Or is it just something simple? You get mad over stupid things sometimes." As the blond grins wryly at him, Aomine wonders what category Kise himself would put the situation into.

"You'd probably think it's stupid," he decides, "But it's important to both of us."

"Ooh," The model leans across the table, head tilting to the side in interest. "Now I'm really intrigued. You and Kurokocchi don't have a lot in common." He doesn't press, though, and Aomine is grateful. Instead he says, "Momocchi and I are in an important debate as well."

This has Aomine lifting an eyebrow. "Over what?"

"Akashicchi's type." Aomine chokes on his own spit.

"What the _hell_," he manages to spit out as Kise laughs. "Why would you ever want to think about _that_?" He knew Satsuki and Kise could get down and discuss some pretty weird stuff (_really_ weird stuff), but seriously, _why_?

The blond smirks, "Actually, we were talking about everyone's types, but Akashicchi's was the only one we couldn't agree on." He elaborates, and Aomine's not sure how to feel about that. He doesn't get time to ask as the waitress returns with their food, and Kise quickly abandons the topic in favor of eating. The blue haired teen has to agree, the food is better than Majis. The place itself doesn't hold the convenience Majis does, though, so he's not sure he can say he likes it better.

They both decided to eat light, so they finish their food quickly. Kise looks minimally disappointed, but doesn't make any comments. When the bill arrives, Aomine goes to grab his wallet and pales.

Seeing his expression, the small forward smirks. "We can go Dutch," he suggests.

"'Dutch'?" the taller male weakly echoes.

The blond sighs playfully. "You're hopeless, Aominecchi." He says, giving the other a mock-reprimanding look. "You pay half and I'll pay half, alright?"

"See… the problem is, I forgot my wallet, and I only just now realized." Kise gives him this exasperated look before laughing at his mortification. Aomine retaliates by leaning across the table and smacking him upside the head. "Shut up, idiot!"

Kaijou's ace shakes his head, "I feel bad for the girls you've dated," he comments, laying a wad of money on the table. "Come on, let's go."

As they're walking out of the restaurant and down the street again, Bakagami's text somehow slides to the forefront of his mind, and he swallows heavily. He's got to ask; if it fails, he can say it was just a friendly invitation (which is basically what he has to say anyway). The festival may be all the way in the Tottori prefecture, but it would still be a good excuse (besides, long train rides were always being described as romantic opportunities, right? Maybe? He so just made that up, didn't he? Oh god). So he clears his throat in an obvious way, gaining Kise's attention. "So, uh, have you heard about the festival going on this weekend?"

"The fishing thing?" Kise asks. Aomine can't say he knows, so he just nods. "Yeah—actually I've got a date for it," he grins slyly, and Aomine feels his stomach drop. "Why?"

"Uh—'cos—," Struggling with the knowledge that Kise has a _date_, Aomine's mouth runs on its own. "I'm going with Tetsu," he blurts out, and immediately wants to slap himself. _That's it…_

Kise's eyes light up, and his expression freezes. It's a look he's seen maybe once or twice on the blond, and each time Satsuki had pulled him off in some other direction. "So I guess your disagreement isn't so serious, then," he comments. He gives a closed-eyed smile, "Maybe we'll see each other there."

And that's the end of the conversation. Kise forces it aside and launches into a whole spiel about some article he'd read online about some inane topic he couldn't care less about. Soon after that, Kise breaks off, saying he's got things to do before tomorrow, and leaves Aomine outside a chocolate shop. He watches the blond leave, and once he's out of sight the power forward pulls his phone out of his pocket. He hurriedly calls one of the five people he really didn't want to talk to right now. The other picks up after the third ring.

"_Aomine-kun?"_

"We're going to the festival together."

* * *

><p><em>AN: This is likely going to be re-written...  
>To the guest who told me to "just update already": I did it. *lets off world's tiniest confetti cannon* (no, but srsly, that was the worst guilt trip I've ever been on, please don't do that to me)<br>__All I wanted was to get this done before the day school started back up, and I succeeded (with, like, two hours to spare). So, because of that, updates might be more frequent, maybe. I like to procrastinate, and this is what I spent summer procrastinating on, ahahaha...  
>In other news, I'm excited for the, uh, date. ;) I've been contemplating this for a while. Sorry for just reiterating a lot from last chapter, but I felt like Aomine's POV was important...? Kagami sure made an impact, lol. I knew he had a reason for being here!<br>_


	5. Chapter 4 - No Cheating

_A/N: Wow, okay, this took longer than I thought it would. Um... oops. Sorry about that. This chapter is about 1.5k words longer, though, so that should help make up for it... (though I'm still really sorry)  
><em>_Also, I tried really, really hard to keep my angsty-ish headcanons out of this, but I caved. It's not much, and probably won't affect the story. Either way, I'm sorry, aha.  
><em>

* * *

><p><em><strong>Kise [9:45]:<strong>__ ne ne, midorimacchi! _( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

_**Kise [9:45]:**__ i saw oha asa this morning!_

_**Kise [9:46]:**__ have you watched it yet!?_

_**Kise [9:48]:**__ doesn't matter! _(｀_´)ゞ_i've decided to be your lucky item today!_

_**Kise [9:48]:**__ (^o^)_

_**Kise [9:48]:**__ i'm all yours _〜（ゝ。∂）

Midorima's head blanks as he reads the last message. He didn't want to see Kise, let alone spend the day with him. And even if he did, Takao had already demanded they "hang out" today. He couldn't deal with the two annoying idiots at the same time.

_**Midorima [9:56]:**__ I have plans today._

_**Kise [9:58]:**__ i'm already at your house _(•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

_What_. As he stares down at his phone, he hears the doorbell ring. A sinking feeling settles in his stomach. "Damn Gemini," he mutters under his breath. He rushes downstairs, needing to get to the door before any of his family members did. He wasn't willing to let the idiot blond be intercepted. Luck seems to be on his side as he doesn't even run into anyone on his way to the entryway. He takes a moment to compose himself before opening the door. Just as he suspected, Kise's standing there with that stupid cheeky grin of his. Midorima scowls.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you," Kise answers, "I'm posing as your lucky item for today!" He flashes the shooting guard a thumbs up as Midorima gives him a deadpan look. Kise ignores this, continuing with a melodramatic sway as he presses the back of his hand to his forehead, "Cancers are ranked too low for me to simply ignore your obvious pleas for my presence!"

"I never asked you to come," Midorima points out.

"I could sense your need." Kise says, waving him off. He's still got that dumb grin on his face. Midorima wants to smack it off. But the other is already moving on. "Anyway! Are you ready to go?"

The shooting guard's frown deepens. "Go where?"

"Go meet up with Takao, of course!" Kise says. "You two have plans, right? I'm sure Takao won't mind if I tag along~,"

This remark causes surprise to flash over the Shutoku student's face. "How did you know I was meeting with Takao?" He had said he had plans, but he hadn't given the other any details.

Again, Kise waves off his concern. "Midorimacchi is just that predictable." He teases.

Midorima releases a resigned breath, knowing Kise won't back down from this stupid idea. In spite of that, he shakes his head. "I haven't watched Oha Asa yet."

Kaijou's ace nods. "That's okay—you can listen to it on the way. I've got the podcast on my phone." With practiced finesse, he pulls said device out of his pocket in one fluid motion. The green haired teen opens his mouth to protest—anything to stall this incoming train wreck—but Kise's already grabbed his wrist and tugged him away.

Kise only lets him go when they step out onto the street, and Midorima hastily checks his own phone. If the blond wasn't going to give in, maybe he could still cancel with his teammate. He could make up an excuse, tell Takao he'd been caught up in other business. The shooting guard was not going to deal with the two of them on his own (besides, getting Takao involved right now would be dangerous). So he sends a quick text message to the other, explaining he was unable to meet with him.

When he looks up, he sees Kise watching him with keen eyes. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," Midorima denies, "Takao can't meet with us, that's all." The other doesn't look convinced, but the smile is quick to return to his features and he leads Midorima down the street.

"That's too bad," he says, "I guess that just means I've got Midorimacchi to myself!" The green haired teen averts his gaze, adjusting his glasses. "Let's go to the mall—I wanna get some new basketball shoes."

It's a short walk to the bus stop, which is fortunate considering Kise won't let him listen to Oha Asa until they're seated on the bus. Midorima leans towards the window as Kise sits beside him. The blond hands Midorima an earbud after he's situated himself. "You'll have to lean in a little closer if we're going to share," Kise states, pushing the other earbud into his own ear. Midorima wordlessly complies, moving away from the window and gingerly places the earbud he was given into his ear. He'd really rather not share someone else's earbuds, but it wasn't like he had a choice. The thought leaves his mind as Kise starts up the podcast and skips right to the part concerning Cancer's lucky items.

"—_ncer's lucky number is seven, and your lucky item for today is an old friend—preferably of the Gemini sign."_

Midorima flicks Kise's forehead, and the blond makes an indignant noise of surprise. "You're not an old friend, idiot."

"But I'm not a _new_ friend," he counters with a pout. "I'm sure it still counts."

"_For love advice, Cancer should try and get to know that special person. You may have thought about abandoning the whole idea of ever entering a relationship, as they are adored by so many others. But today your determination is renewed. You are going to find out what makes them tick, and will not give up until you have solved this enigmatic mystery."_

The shooting guard is taken by surprise; that was more on-point than usual. He never thought much over the 'love advice,' but maybe it was onto something today.

"So," Kise says, interrupting his train of thought. "How's this 'lucky item' thing gonna work? Will we have to hold hands or something?" His grin is teasing, though Midorima swallows nervously.

"Yes, actually." The words feel awkward as they leave him mouth. It wasn't a lie, per se, but it maybe wasn't the truth either. For a lucky item to have any value, it had to be in one's possession. Considering he couldn't "own" Kise, direct contact was likely the only way he could stand to be an effective lucky "item."

Kise blinks. "Okay," he agrees, taking Midorima's hand in his own. His fingers curl loosely around the other ace's bandaged digits. The blond smiles in slight amusement and settles back in his seat. To hide the heat rushing to his face, Midorima turns his head towards the bus window, though not enough to strain the earbud cord. His heartbeat picks up, and he's not quite sure how he's going to compose himself enough before they reach their stop; _maybe this was a bad idea_.

They're quiet for the rest of the short bus ride, simply listening to the podcast. Kise is back to his chatty self as he pockets his phone and the two of them get off at their stop. They're still holding hands as they walk towards the mall, and Midorima swears everyone is staring. And why wouldn't they? Kise is a model; what if someone recognized him? This is the kind of stuff scandals are made of, right? God, Midorima doesn't think he can take that kind of embarrassment. But even when he starts to pull his hand away, Kise's grip tightens. He's not talking, but he smiles slyly up at the other ace.

"This was your idea," he teases, "You can't back out now." Midorima lets out a slow breath, keeping his gaze ahead. He feels the blond's grip loosen. "Hey, I was just joking. We really don't have to—,"

"It's fine," The green haired teen interrupts. To accentuate his point, he shifts their hands so their fingers interlock. Kise blinks, surprised, but doesn't protest.

Instead, he asks, "So is this why you canceled with Takao?"

Was he really that transparent? "No," Midorima replies, "I can't deal with both of you idiots at the same time, and you were being stubborn."

"_Mean_, Midorimacchi," Kise pouts, "What if I wanted to catch up with him as well?"

"Then don't just show up at my house with no warning."

"I texted you."

"Yes, when you were already there."

"Because Midorimacchi would have said _no_,"

"It's not my job to humor you."

"Oh, so you're just playing babysitter, is that it?" He says with mock hurt, a slight, teasing grin playing at his lips. "Good to know that's all I am to you."

Midorima rolls his eyes, quickening his stride and dragging Kise along. "Idiot," he mutters. _If only you knew._

The mall isn't too busy, as it's still early for a weekend. The usual crowd is present: groups of friends loitering about, couples milling around, women with small children taking the opportunity to get out of the house, et cetera. It's loud and obnoxious, but Kise still pulls him into the fray of it all. As expected, they don't keep up with the hand-holding thing once they start walking around the mall, but Kise remains an almost constant presence at his side, pressing close against him more often than not. The green haired teen's questioning glances had been met with coy looks, clearly saying, _'This was your idea, remember?'_ and, honestly, he can't refute the accusation.

"Is there anywhere you want to check out, or am I in charge of today's itinerary?" The blond asks teasingly.

"I don't care," is all Midorima bothers to reply with, preoccupied with not running into anyone as he's more-or-less haphazardly dragged along. Seeing this, Kise slows his pace—but not by much.

The thing about shopping with Kise is, he gets sidetracked—_a lot_. What Midorima expected to be a quick, three-shops-max stop ends up being more of a three hour trip. Kise drags him into several clothes shops, finding all kinds of things for the _both_ of them to try on.

"No way," Midorima had said when the first outfit was thrust into his hands. "I'm not here to try on clothes."

But the blond was too damn persuasive for his own good, and Midorima had ended up in the clothes soon enough. The ensuing excited praises did not help his rising embarrassment. "But it looks so good on you!" Kise had insisted when he'd complained the pants were too tight. "They're the style now, anyways." And with that, he promptly shoved another pile of clothes into his arms and sent him off with a smile.

It's been three hours, and they haven't even _seen_ a sports shop. Midorima stands outside the dressing rooms in yet another store, waiting for Kise to finish. He's got bags hanging off his arms from most of the stores they'd been to, a very select few for himself while the others were all Kise's. _Really, how much clothes does he even need?_ The green haired teen scoffs to himself. To be honest, he's a little incensed over the whole thing. He wasn't a pushover by any means, and yet here he is letting Kise push and pull him around to his heart's content. Hell, the only reason he bothered buying anything was because Kise had insisted. _Why am I trying so hard to humor him?_

(In the back of his head he knows why, but he's extremely unwilling to admit it to himself. Crush or not, Kise shouldn't be allowed to have him wrapped around his finger like this.)

It fortunately doesn't take long for the blond to return. "Hey, why don't we get something to eat?" Kise suggests as he approaches the shooting guard. He's empty handed, which is likely a good sign.

"There's a café a few shops down," Midorima agrees. He's not really hungry, but he could use a break from clothes stores.

"Hm," the small forward purses his lips, "I was thinking we could just hit a food stand somewhere," He's peering up at Midorima through his lashes again with an expression irritatingly close to a pout, and Midorima resists the urge to sigh. Idly he wonders if the blond does this on purpose, or if it's just second nature to him. Strangely, thoughts of the latter irks him.

"That's fine," he says with a sort of resigned tone he only reserves for his current companion. Kise flashes a grateful smile as he backtracks to the food stand they'd passed earlier. They both settle for a bowel of ramen, and sit beside the fountain. They sit side-by-side on the bench, though Kise leaves plenty of space between them, much more compared to the clinging he'd done earlier. The two teens are quiet for several moments as they eat, and Midorima is glad for the reprieve. He wasn't willing to admit it, but he was getting tired. He had yet to find someone who could effectively wear him out as easily as Kise could.

"Ah, doesn't that woman look like Shiori-sensei?" Kise says suddenly, hand reaching over to grab Midorima's arm. He gestures excitedly to a woman standing outside one of the cafés. She's an older woman, dark hair starting to show signs of greying. He can see a weary expression on her face as she adjusts her shopping bags. She does look surprisingly like one of their middle school teachers. "She was always getting on you about your lucky items." Midorima frowns as he's forced to remember some of his less pleasant middle school memories. Kise moves on just as quickly as he brought up the subject. "And look at that couple over there—don't they remind you of Kurokocchi and Momocchi?" He looks on at the two teenagers standing by a row of vending machines, seeing the boy lovingly cling to the girl while she all but ignores him.

If he's honest, it more of reminds the taller boy of Kuroko and _Kise_, but he decides not to voice that opinion.

"I guess I should apologize for springing this on you," Kise says, which kind of takes Midorima by surprise. Kise didn't usually apologize for his spontaneous ideas. "But I'm not going to!" _That's what I expected_… "You need more surprises in your life, you know? Too much routine is boring. Besides, we don't hang out enough anymore. It's been hard, going from seeing you guys every day to barely talking. You could text me back once in a while, ne?" He pouts, poking Midorima's shoulder to accentuate his point.

"I don't—," he cuts himself off as he swallows down the instinctive insult. After all, Kise had a point. Relationships of any kind required effort on each individual's part. "I'm… sorry." he says stiffly. "You're right. I'm… still adjusting as well. It's not easy to fill in the gaps you left in my routine." He tries to fight the urge to fiddle with his glasses, and almost succeeds. Abrupt surprise takes Kise's expression, and Midorima can't help but glance away as he notices the slight blush coloring the blond's face. _Why the hell did I say that!?_

Kise's smile brightens tenfold, shining with plain happiness. "Midorimacchi is cute when he's embarrassed," he teases.

The shooting guard bristles, "I am not cute," he mutters.

After their quick lunch, Midorima decides he can only deal with one more store. This revelation seems to upset Kise, as he whines in protest. Nevertheless, the green haired teen stands firm with his decision and eventually Kise has no choice but to give in.

"Okay, then we'll stop by the sport shop before going back to your house."

"You aren't staying with me," Midorima says sharply.

Kise shakes his head, "I'm only going to walk you home." Midorima nods slowly, and lets the blond lead him away.

Kaijou's ace drags him into the sport shop, immediately heading towards the shoe displays. The two of them had been here plenty of times; the Generation of Miracles had been known to stop by every so often, and it was Midorima's personal favorite sports shop. It had everything a sports fanatic of any kind could ever think of wanting, and its shoe display was one of the most impressive he'd come across in a store of its size. Sometimes the shop was almost too thorough with its selection.

Strangely, though, Kise stops suddenly just as they near the shoe displays, and quickly detours to another section of the store. Midorima frowns, seeing nothing particularly off-putting. The only people near the shoe displays were a group of high school students looking at cleats. He trails behind the blond, watching as he stops over by the bikes. Kise's posture is oddly rigid as he stands with his back to the taller teen.

"What's wrong?" he asks bluntly.

Lithe shoulders slowly relax as the tension is forced out of them. "Nothing," Kise says, not looking back at the other as he purposefully strides past the bike racks. It's an obvious lie, especially for someone like Kise who _specialized_ in acting.

"You said you wanted to look at shoes," he reminds, feeling persistent. "Why are we over by the bikes?"

"You don't have to be here if you don't want to," Kise snaps suddenly, turning a defensive glare on the other. Golden eyes blink, and the hostility disappears. "S… sorry." He mutters, gaze falling to the side. With a loud sigh, he lets a wry grin take his features. "Those guys over there were on Teikou's soccer team. My senpai before Senpai," he chuckles quietly. "We didn't part on good terms."

Somehow the other is both surprised and nonplussed by the information. On the one hand, it made sense. Kise had been an arrogant prick in middle school— as most of them had been. He wasn't afraid to flaunt his skill and let you know just how much better he was than you. Midorima would be more surprised if Kise _hadn't_ made any enemies with that kind of mentality. Still… the small forward wasn't one to let others get to him so easily. It must have been a painful fallout.

Kise faces him, uncharacteristically quiet as he stares up at the other. Midorima opens his mouth, intending to ask if he was alright, when a sudden weight crashes into his chest and strong binds wrap around his torso like a vice. It takes longer than it should for him to realize he's being hugged—by _Kise_.

His body goes rigid upon realization. Midorima isn't a touchy-feely kind of guy, obviously, and so most physical contact would have him flustered and uncomfortable, no matter who was initiating it. This, however, was so much _worse_. The hand holding had been bad, but at least it had been simple and practically meaningless. _This_ was charged with emotion, and he could almost tangibly _feel_ something more (granted they were negative emotions, but emotions nonetheless).

Reflexively, Midorima's arms raise as he moves to push the other away, but he pauses as Kise's impromptu embrace slowly, almost hesitantly, slackens and his body tenses. He expects the blow, braces himself for it. Suddenly pushing him away seems a little… cruel. His hands hover, not knowing where to go. If he wasn't going to shove Kise, what should he do? He could return the hug, but that seemed worse than _being_ hugged. But he can't just do _nothing_. So slowly—very, very slowly—he lowers his hands to just barely rest on Kise's shoulders.

Nonetheless, Kise backs off with a strangely blank expression. "You won't hate me, right?" he inquires quietly.

"At this point, I don't think I could if I tried." The taller teen replies, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he attempts to fight down his blush. He fails to notice how the blond's answering smile wavers as Kise turns.

"Sorry,"

Midorima glances back over at the other, sighing slightly. "It's fine." He assures.

"You've been saying that a lot today," Kise remarks with a slight, forced laugh. "Has high school made you that much more tolerant?"

Choosing to ignore the question, the shooting guard instead answers with, "Just go grab the shoes you want and we'll go, alright?" Kise nods slowly, walking off back in the direction of the shoes. Midorima doesn't follow him, needing the time to compose himself. His heart's still beating a little too quickly. Honestly, today was a little more than he'd bargained for—though it's always that way with Kise. The model had too much energy; today had been rather relaxed compared to most of their outings, and he was still wore out. Though while clothes shopping was a bit of a chore, Kise made it bearable, at least. But still… it definitely wasn't helping anything. The shooting guard didn't want to get caught up in this mess. But with Kise searching him out specifically today to hang out, it was kind of misleading (in this context, anyway. Kise himself couldn't know what he was doing).

Unless… he did know.

The thought of Kise knowing about their—or even just Midorima's—feelings is more than upsetting. He didn't think Kise was that cruel, but people could always surprise you. What if he was using them, or just placating them? Maybe today's outing was part of a ploy to get Midorima off his back. Kise wasn't book smart, yes, but he could play people like his favorite instrument.

He shoves these thoughts away. There's no way Kise could know. If he did, he wouldn't be able to keep quiet. Besides, the blond wasn't heartless; he couldn't do something like that to someone he considered a friend

The other ace is gone longer than Midorima thinks he should be. It doesn't take that long to retrieve a pair of basketball shoes, right? Kise generally stuck to one brand; he couldn't take that long to find a pair he liked, right? _Maybe those guys decided to pick a fight with him_. That didn't seem extremely likely. He would've heard something, surely. Still… maybe he should go look—

"Sorry for making you wait!" Kise suddenly jumps into his field of view, waving a shopping bag. Ah, so he'd went to purchase the shoes as well. In that case, he'd been gone for a relatively short time. "Okay! Time to head home!" He grins easily, eyes bright. Seems his little "mission" was enough to get him back to normal. Nonetheless, Midorima takes him by the arm and leads him away from the store in the opposite direction of the mall exit. Kise starts to protest, but cuts himself off at the look Midorima throws him. The shooting guard's intended destination isn't far away, and the model's face brightens when he sees the shop. "Ah, it's my favorite bribe-supply store!"

Midorima blinks. They're standing in front of a candy store.

Seeing his confused expression, Kise smirks. "What, you think I can pull snacks from thin air? I needed something to get Murasakibaracchi to agree to tutor me. He's a surprisingly good teacher."

"You had atrocious grades," Midorima points out flatly. "_I_ had to help tutor you just so you wouldn't fail."

"Ehe," Kise smiles sheepishly, "No one ever said I was a good student."

The green haired teen scoffs good-naturedly, and the two head inside. Midorima hasn't been to the shop since middle school, but it hasn't changed much since then. It's a quaint little shop, serving all kinds of packaged snacks and candies as well as homemade treats. Being here brings back a rush of nostalgia, and the taller ace almost gets caught up in it. Kise's talking a mile a minute, making comments on various things around the shop and never lingering too long on one thing. Midorima can't concentrate on his words (not that he really bothers to try). Instead he focuses simply on the blond's lively expression and actions. Kaijou's ace was never still, not even when asleep (not that Midorima had ever watched him sleep; they'd been forced to sleep side-by-side at one of their training camps. Midorima had woken up with at least one of Kise's limbs sprawled over him). There are people who speak with their hands, but it's more accurate to say Kise speaks with his whole body when he's excited.

"Ne, we should get some taiyaki." Kise suggests, drifting over to the counter to look at the treats on display. He taps his finger on the glass over the fish-shaped pastries. "You like red bean, hm?" His expression is knowing.

Shutoku's ace doesn't say anything, just looks to the girl behind the counter and nods. Golden eyes watch as the other hands over the money for the treats. Green meets yellow, and the blond smiles. "Thanks," he says as the taller hands him one taiyaki. Their hands brush, though neither lingers. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." And with that, they exit and make for the bus stop.

"That was fun, ne?" Kise grins, taking another bite of his taiyaki. He seems sated, at least, which is a feat in itself. And while he's happy, he looks… run down. Midorima frowns pensively. They didn't do enough running around to wear out someone with Kise's stamina, right? Though the little (IE tiny) emotional breakdown that happened in the sports shop was probably (maybe, possibly) mentally draining, and he supposed Kise did endure the train ride over from Kanagawa earlier. Perhaps that was enough to tire him out like this.

"It wasn't so bad," he answers absently, drawing a slight laugh from the blond. The two of them stay in an amiable silence for the remainder of the short walk, standing close together again. Nothing particularly notable happens until they're seated on the bus. Kise offers up one of his earbuds again, and Midorima accepts it without a word while Kise deftly clasps his hand in his own (because this has apparently become the norm for them). Some pop songs start playing, but it's luckily nothing too annoying too loud or obnoxious. It's actually rather calm and gentle, which is probably part of the reason Kise ends up dozing off with his head resting against Midorima's shoulder. Despite that, the ace doesn't feel flustered concerning the action. Maybe it's because the other is barely awake, or maybe it's because he's finally managed to loosen up. Either way, it almost feels… natural. That thought sets off warning bells in his head, rational thoughts screaming, _"Get out before you get attached!"_ but he already knows it's too late. Idly, his fingers trace over the lines on the blond's hand as he wonders just how impossible it would be to live this moment again and again.

Kise starts awake as the bus brakes at their stop. He blinks blearily, but bounces back soon enough. Midorima catches himself fondly gazing on at the other and quickly busies himself with gathering up their stuff once more. _I'm in too deep_, he realizes. Somehow he feels both indifferent and disappointed with himself. But one look from Kise is enough to make these thoughts dissipate from his mind.

"C'mon, I'll walk you home." Kise smiles.

"Shouldn't I be the one walking you to the station?" Midorima questions. Granted, he hadn't invited Kise over, but it still seemed like proper etiquette.

"Hm?" His head tilts up to glance up at the shooting guard. "Oh, it's okay. I'm not going home yet. I've gotta pick someone up after this." The excitement returns to his expression as he says this, and a sinking feeling settles in Midorima's stomach. "You've heard about the festival in Tottori tomorrow, right?" Shutoku's ace nods, guessing where this conversation is headed. "Yeah, we're going there. I figured it would be less of a hassle to ride the train together instead of just meeting up there. Oh, speaking of that, guess who else scored a date," When the taller male only gives him a flat look in response, he continues, "Aominecchi's going with _Kurokocchi_."

This manages to effectively take the shooting guard by surprise, and by the way Kise laughs, it must show. "What do you mean?" There's no way those two are on a date—they weren't like that, were they? And what about everything they'd said and done just the other day?

"Aominecchi told me he's taking Kurokocchi to the festival—it's a _date_." Kise nods, and though he seems strangely enthusiastic, he also seems… disappointed. "I guess I can't say I didn't see it coming, though."

"What do you mean?"

The blond shrugs. "They've always been closer to each other than the rest of us, right? It makes sense." Midorima continues to stare at him, and he elaborates, "Aominecchi seems like the type of guy to fall for a best friend rather than some cute girl. A close-friendship-turned-romantic-relationship would be more comfortable and less taxing for him. And really, other than Momocchi, Kurokocchi knows him best."

"You've thought a lot about this," Midorima notes, the slight contradiction not slipping past him.

Kise waves it off, "Momocchi likes to talk about this stuff. She's got all of us mostly figured out. And everything she's said sounds pretty reasonable. Like Murasakibaracchi: He'd need someone patient, and maybe a little motherly to keep him in check. Not too motherly though, because that might be a little too smothering." He snorts. "And Kurokocchi—well, I'm sure you can guess what she says about him. What she said about _you_, though, was probably the most interesting."

"Is that so," Shutoku's ace says carefully. This could likely only go one of two ways, and he's not sure he wants to deal with either route at this point in time.

The copycat continues with that coy smile of his, "She said you take her for an 'opposites attract' kind of guy." He's smirking as he peers up at the other through his dark lashes. Golden eyes glimmer with amusement. "I wonder what kind of person you'll end up with."

The taller male swallows. "And what about you?" he inquires, but his voice isn't quite as confident as he intends.

Kaijou's small forward backs off, "That would be _cheating_, Midorimacchi." He says in a mock-reprimanding tone. They stop walking, and Midorima realizes they've arrived at his house. "I'll see you soon, ne?"

"I suppose." He answers in an attempt to stay indifferent, and Kise laughs as they say their goodbyes. Midorima watches his retreating back for a moment, mind slightly reeling from their conversation. That had been… odd. Kise was a mystery sometimes, and that conversation only reaffirmed that fact. He words and tone made it seem like he _knew_, but that couldn't be right. Actually, he made it seem like he was treating this just as Akashi was—like his _own_ game. But _again_, he wasn't willing to believe that's all this whole thing was.

Either way, he knew one thing for certain. In a moment of undeserved arrogance, he sends a quick text message and goes inside his house. The reply comes faster than he expects, and he can't help but sigh as he reads it over.

_**Midorima [14:16]:**__ I don't think he's interested in you whatsoever._

_**Aomine [15:02]:**__ fuck you_

* * *

><p>A_N: Thank you for reading. I hope it didn't get too awkward; I kinda feel like Midorima would be more internal, as opposed to Aomine who is very external, in terms of narrative. But maybe I went overboard on that, oops.  
>MidoKise was actually my first KnB ship. I'm biased, though, because I've always paired green and yellow together (if that even makes sense). But then I had AoKise and MidoTaka shoved in my face and I... kind of forgot about it...<br>In other news, I feel like I should mention that I have a tumblr blog. My url is "pinkinmyimagination", so feel free to pop over and yell at me when next chapter takes two centuries (I'm so sorry). And as always, don't be shy to send me any ideas or things you'd like to see._


	6. Chapter 5 - It's Your Fault

_A/N: The fact that no one guessed this either means it's a great idea, or an absolutely terrible one._

* * *

><p>Aomine realizes he's fucked up. He's fucked up a lot, but this was an especially awful fuck up.<p>

With that being said, he doesn't need anyone (especially not Tetsu or Midorima) to remind him of that. His lip curls in disdain as he stares down at his phone. Arrogance really didn't suit Midorima (especially directed against Aomine).

"_He's not interested in you whatsoever."_

He'd sneer at the remark if he wasn't so doubtful of the other being wrong.

But it's okay if he's right, because Aomine still won't give up. He can still win Kise over—no sweat. All hope can't be lost for him, not when Kise still looks at him with such warm admiration (he pushes back the thoughts detailing how different that admiration looks now, how much more placating it feels at times). And if Kise can still act like nothing's changed between them, then who's to say that honestly nothing has? (They've changed so much, in so many different ways; he just refuses to acknowledge it in fear of it being a _bad_ change.)

Even with Midorima's text momentarily taking over his thoughts, he can't help but remember Kise's face when he'd lied about Tetsu. Thinking back, he can place at least one emotion hidden in that unfamiliar expression: _disappointment_. If Kise really didn't have any feelings for him, why would he be disappointed hearing he had a date?

_It could always be _Tetsu_ he's disappointed about_.

Well. Fifty-fifty chances were a lot better than twenty-eighty chances (though to be honest, it hasn't really felt like twenty-eighty odds anyway; more like forty-forty-fifteen between himself, Tetsu, and Akashi with Midorima and Murasakibara sharing the five percent left).

That's not the point. The point is, he needs to do something, and he needs to do it soon. And what better time to do it than while hijacking Kise's date? So what if Tetsu is going to be right there? They've got the same goals, so it shouldn't matter. In fact, Tetsu should be _thanking_ him for volunteering to do this dirty deed (okay, maybe he should find a better way to phrase that).

There's just one problem. He doesn't know exactly what he needs to do.

He groans. This was definitely _not_ his area of expertise. He'd never actively tried to romantically win anyone over before. In the few brief (so very, very brief) relationships he'd been in, the girl was always the one to set up dates, or show 'affection'. He didn't know how to do that for someone else, hardly knew the basics of even asking someone out. All of that should be the girl's job anyway. In this situation, however, he doesn't have a girl—

Oh. Wait.

Aomine Daiki is not one to admit defeat (on the off chances that it actually happens). He does, however, have a small inkling of an idea on when to concede and ask for help in areas he is not skilled in. This is one of those instances. So naturally, he does the only thing he can think to do. He pulls out his phone and calls the only number he's ever bothered to memorize beside his own.

"Dai-chan?"

Aomine sucks up any semblance of pride that may get in his way and says, "Satsuki, I need your help."

Immediately, Momoi assumes the worst. "What happened? Are you alright? Did you get in another fight? Do I need to call an ambulance—?"

"_Satsuki_," Aomine interrupts, "No one's dying. I just need your… _advice_ about, uh—," he grimaces. Does he really want to do this? Satsuki had a tendency to go a little _overboard_ with things like this. Maybe it would be better to do this on his own…?

_If the past week was any indication, you're screwed_.

"'Advice'?" Satsuki echoes, quickly going from worried to _elated_. "Is Dai-chan asking me for my romantic expertise?" _How am I this see-through_!?

"Uh," he answers intelligently. There's an alarm in his head begging him to hang up and get out.

The girl squeals in excitement, "Finally! I was wondering when you were going to man up and ask him out!" Aomine wants to smack himself. _So everyone knows _except_ Kise. Dammit_. "Okay, okay, so have you actually asked him out yet?"

_This won't be so bad; it's just Satsuki_. The thought does little to reassure him. "No," he manages to say, "I haven't asked him out. I, uh, can't exactly tell him outright that I… _like_ him," and Momoi lets out this really, really weird noise. Oh god, this is going to be painful, isn't it?

"So you're planning on winning him over completely before you confess? I can't tell if that's romantic, or dumb,"

"It wasn't my idea, okay, so shut up and help me." He retorts irately. This whole situation was getting on his nerves—not to mention the fact that this was embarrassing as hell.

"Eh? What do you mean it's not your idea?"

"It's… complicated," he answers. She stays quiet, as if prompting him to continue, and he reluctantly relents, "Akashi said I can't confess to him."

"Oh… okay," Satsuki says, contemplative. She ditches the notion a second later, and if Aomine wasn't already completely regretting this, he would be very soon. "So, if you haven't asked him out, per se, have you tried to meet with him and _seduce_ him?" She giggles.

The ace grimaces. "… I don't wanna talk about it."

His childhood friend laughs louder. "Dai-chan is so hopeless," Aomine clenches his jaw. "But that's okay. I know you can do it! But you'll need my help."

"Just tell me what I should do."

She makes a noise of admonishment, "Ah, ah, ah! Patience, Dai-chan! You can't rush these things! Though I suppose you've waited long enough," the girl hums in amusement. To be honest, Aomine didn't expect Satsuki to be this excited for him. Thinking about it, he shouldn't be surprised that she knew about his, er, _afflictions_ towards the idiot blond. Satsuki knew almost everything about all six of them; how could he expect this to slip her attention?

_Wait, so could she know—_?

"So first off," she starts, interrupting his train of thought. "Put basketball out of your head while with him. You need to have connections other than basketball if you want a stable romantic relationship. Take him out to do something you can both do—like karaoke." Aomine snorts. Like he'd be inclined to go on a dumb _karaoke date_. That was out of the question (even if it was one of Kise's favorite things to do). There was only so much he was willing to do, and he'd already gotten roped into this dumb festival.

"Yeah, yeah," Aomine interrupts. "But what _can_ I say to him? Y'know, just to… clue him in?" He's thinking about what Kagami had told him; _"He's not good with subtlety."_ He can see why Kagami would say that. With all the subtle (and bold) advances thrown at him. Kise would have to become numb to them at some point. Another problem to seducing a goddamn model, Aomine's sure. "He's… not good at taking hints."

Satsuki is silent for a few moments. "Maybe," she says, "instead of saying something, you could show him."

He doesn't know why, but that sets off some kind of warning. "What do you mean?" he asks carefully.

"Well you're not just bad at coming up with words; you're bad at conveying what you really mean through them as well. If I give you something to say, you'll probably still mess it up." She answers, and her casual tone ticks him off. He bites back a retort as she continues. "But you can be good with action, if not a little impulsive. So start acting more like how you want him to see you."

"What the fuck, that sounds dumb."

"_Dai-chan_, stop being so defensive." Momoi chides. "It can't hurt much to try it, right?"

"What do you mean 'can't hurt much'?"

"Well you don't want to go overboard. Then he'd just be turned off by it, you know?"

"I don't think you understand," Aomine says, needing to stop her before she can continue. "I don't want to be different around him. He—I like him because of how we are. I don't want to have to change that because we're… 'romantically involved' or whatever." That didn't sound appealing. Why should he have to change anything just because he wanted a different kind of relationship? He likes Kise as he knows him, and he's sure the blond feels the same. Why bother acting different?

"You would act different in a relationship whether you realized it or not." Satsuki reasons patiently. "And as your relationship is now, you hardly act like his friend. Here, just work on dropping the tough, disinterested act. Being more open would show him you're serious. Besides," her tone grows more serious. "You still have a lot of stuff to apologize and make up for."

Aomine grimaces. "Yeah, I know. I'm… I'm trying."

"So stop being defensive and let him back in." In the background, Aomine can hear muffled talking that steadily grows louder. "Look, I have to go, okay? But I'll send you a link to this website that might help; I promise it's not girly."

"Wait, hold on, I still don't—," _Click._ _She hung up_. Typical. But true to her word, she does manage to text him a link to some dating website with… shit, twenty four way to "hint to someone you like them". He's not really sure what to think about that. Unlike what she had said, it's still girly. Reading through most of them, the tips are either stupid or common knowledge anyway. There's maybe one or two that catch his eye. He stops at number sixteen, already having had enough. He's got the gist; hang out and be with the person you like in basically any way possible. _Like I didn't know that already_. Why can't these dumb websites have real, applicable advice?

At least the call gave him a better idea about what to do for the festival.

_Damn thing better be worth it_.

* * *

><p>It takes until noon on Sunday for Aomine to realize he really needs an alarm clock that actually wakes him up. He scrambles around his house as he rushes to get ready; the last train to Tottori was leaving in two hours (<em>"What kind of bullshit is that? The last train leaves at two in the fucking afternoon?"<em>), and he had only just decided to wake up. Damn internal clock and horrible sleeping habits.

Despite putting so much effort into going, Aomine was really not looking forward to this dumb festival. He's not really a festival guy in the first place (especially after all the shit that had happened at the middle school festivals), and the thought of going to one solely to ruin Kise's date made the whole thing even worse—and it didn't help that he was going to be stuck with Tetsu, who Kise probably thinks he's dating. The ace had tried to get Satsuki to go with him, texting her insistently about it after the conversation, but she apparently already had plans. His childhood friend had simply teasingly wished him luck.

But he was mostly upset about having to leave so damn early. The time of the festival was earlier than he had expected, and because Tottori was so far, he had to waste his entire damn Sunday enduring a six-hour train ride with Tetsu first thing (or first thing for him, anyway).

He wishes that's where the surprises ended, but unfortunately, there's still plenty more in store for him. One prominent surprise stands at his and Tetsu's agreed meeting place (AKA the station). "What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

Kagami scowls up at Aomine. "It wasn't my idea," he replies flatly, seeming more annoyed at Aomine's presence than usual. He gestures to the teen beside him, and Aomine is only just able to keep himself from starting at the other's sudden appearance. "Kuroko dragged me with him."

"Kagami-kun is here to make us look less conspicuous." Tetsu nods matter-of-factly. "I figured it was necessary after you failed so miserably."

Aomine grunts. "Don't remind me." That hadn't been one of his finer moments. But it didn't matter; he would make up for it. He always did. Mostly.

Kagami is eyeing them both oddly, his eyebrows pulled together in thought. "So, what are you guys even planning to do?" he questions, and Aomine grimaces. It wasn't that he didn't want the redhead to know—he already knew about how Aomine felt about Kise, apparently—but it's not like he _should_ know. And it's still kind of embarrassing to explain this to someone outside of the situation (especially considering how freaking petty it makes him look).

"Kise-kun has a date, and we're simply here to supervise." Tetsu answers easily enough, causing Kagami to nearly choke on his own spit.

"_That's_ what he's calling it?" Aomine frowns; _what's that supposed to mean_? "And that's seriously the only reason you're here!? You're making me endure a _six-hour_ train ride just to _spy on Kise's date_!?" Aomine scoffs, but nods in confirmation. Kagami groans in exasperation.

"'Spy' might not be the best term." Tetsu says, his own brow creasing in thought.

"'Completely ruin' might be the best way to put it." Aomine agrees begrudgingly. At least they were on the same page.

Kagami gives them both a flat look. "Seriously? You're going to a fishing festival six hours out from Tokyo just to ruin Kise's good time?" Aomine returns the look, unwilling to let the other's guilt trip get to him.

"This is your fault, dammit." He mutters, shoving his hands into his pockets. "If you hadn't told me to ask him in the first place, none of us would've even _known_ about it." He's not sure whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

The redhead's expression turns confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You told me to ask him out when we all hung out last week, remember?"

"I never—_oh_." Realization seems to dawn on the other power forward, though annoyance is quick to follow. "I didn't think you were going to do _this_."

"We should go," Tetsu interrupts just as the train pulls up to the station. The three proceed to board the train, each with varying levels of reluctance. There was really no going back at this point; they'd only managed to find one clear route from Tokyo to the little town in Tottori they were headed for; once on the train, they'd have to wait until tomorrow to get back home (they were lucky to even find a hotel on such short notice, considering there were so few acceptable places nearby).

And now it's time to endure the _six-hour_ train ride all the way to some dumb festival Aomine would rather pretend never existed. _The list of things I'm somehow willing to do for that idiot keeps growing_… He groans internally.

As it happens, Fate must really love him. Because _who else_ should they be standing-slash-sitting beside than another unfortunate acquaintance of theirs. "I guess Kise wasn't kidding," a voice scoffs from behind the navy haired teen. Cue tired sigh.

Kuroko peeks around the taller power forward. "Hello, Midorima-kun," he greets. Kagami looks just as pleased as Aomine must.

"You guys are so weird," he mutters under his breath as he turns his attention to his cell phone.

"And what the fuck are _you_ doing here?" Aomine nearly growls. He only just got in the train, and he's already considering aborting the mission.

Midorima adjusts his glasses as he answers, "I'm simply visiting relatives." Kagami scoffs under his breath.

"You don't have to lie," Aomine says, "Kise told you about the festival, didn't he? That's what your text was about yesterday." To be honest, that exchange, as short as it was, left a really bitter taste in Aomine's mouth (or, since it was a text message, should he say it left a bitter feeling in his fingers? Whatever). He didn't need to put up with this shit, and he was being especially lenient just playing along with these guys. They're stretching him way too thin here, and he doesn't appreciate it in the slightest. "By the way, just so I make sure you get the message, _fuck you_."

"How crude," Midorima says wryly. "It's not my fault he assumes you and Kuroko are together. If anyone's to blame, maybe you should point fingers at Momoi."

"Satsuki?" Aomine echoes. "What does she have to do anything?"

The shooting guard elaborates, "It seems she's been pairing us all off. Kise knows her predictions are never wrong, so he'd likely be more than willing to believe her if she suggested you and Kuroko would end up dating."

"Hold on, that doesn't make any sense." Aomine argues. "She was giving me advice about Kise yesterday. Why would she do that if she thinks Tetsu and I should be together?" If Akashi had been able to pick up on his afflictions, Satsuki would definitely know. There's no way she could be so far off base. He levels a doubtful look at the shooting guard.

"Did he say anything regarding the rest of you?" Kuroko asks, more-or-less ignoring his former light.

Midorima glances to the side, confliction momentarily flitting across his face. "He declined to say anything regarding himself, and what he did have to say about Murasakibara and myself was rather… ambiguous. He was very clear on his thoughts about you two, and made no mention of Akashi." He still looks thoughtful. Kise had obviously given him something more to think about. That's not really the part Aomine's concerned about, though. Damn it all, he'd really fucked up this time (though for once, he was already set up for failure). This was going to be difficult to fix; once Kise had his mind set on something, it was impossible to change. And if he's honestly got his head wrapped around Aomine and Tetsu _dating_, the two of them were in for major setbacks _at the very least_. They'd be lucky if they could fully and completely convince the blond they had no interest in each other, and that would be so much time wasted—time Aomine isn't sure he has anymore.

And the more this shit piles up, the worse he feels about everything, because this keeps feeling less and less about Kise, and more and more about his other aggravating ex-teammates.

He didn't want to focus on Akashi or Tetsu or Midorima or Murasakibara. He wanted to focus on Kise, but this sudden drama being thrust in his face was making that impossible. He can't get around them, can't ignore them, and he feels like he's being held back at arm's length. Actually, as much as he'd hate to admit, it's not the first time he's felt like this with Kise. They have a rough history, and this year in particular had gotten off to a really rocky start. He realizes he hasn't done much to remedy that, but he was trying. That's more than he can really say for his middle school self who let Kise do all the chasing. The only problem is he didn't know _how_ to make it up to Kise. Something about Kise just clicked with him, and their problems had a tendency to resolve themselves. Their latest fallout (and technically their first real, serious one) needed a lot more help—and because he'd never had to resolve this before, he didn't know what he was supposed to do. Aomine just wants to tell Kise everything, but he couldn't do that even before he was commanded not to by his scissor-wielding ex-captain.

All-in-all, he figures he's screwed.

"Hey, I've got a question," Kagami speaks up suddenly, tone utterly sarcastic and more than a bit irritated. "Does the fact that Kise has a _date_ deter you at all from thinking that he likes any of you, considering that he, y'know, is with _someone else_?"

"I know you're upset, Kagami-kun, but you don't have to be rude." Kuroko says plainly.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch," Aomine agrees. "Like I said, this is your fault."

"_It is not_," Kagami nearly hisses. He suddenly backs off, as if surprised by his own hostility. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he glances out the window and promptly shuts up. Aomine stares at him in bemusement before directing his attention elsewhere. _Asshole_.

"I agree with Kagami-kun," Kuroko says, "The misunderstanding is definitely your fault, Aomine-kun." Aomine opens his mouth to snap at the other, but Kuroko continues on. "If anything, you should be thanking Kagami-kun. He's helping us—even if he didn't intend to." Sky blue eyes glance over to the redhead, who tenses slightly under the scrutiny. He doesn't comment, however.

Something in Tetsu's gaze is almost accusing, and Aomine can't imagine why. It's not like Kagami has anything to do with Kise (not any more than he does with either of them, anyway). And Tetsu had just said Aomine was the one to blame (he wasn't), so why glare at his teammate? Tetsu made no sense sometimes.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is." Midorima interrupts. "Either way, we're all here, and we've all got the same goal."

"Are you suggesting we cooperate with each other?" Aomine asks flatly. He's not quite sure how he feels about that.

"I'm saying that it's not worth arguing about." The shooting guard corrects. "I don't really care what you three do. It probably doesn't matter anyway."

The navy haired ace frowns. "What do you mean?"

Midorima glances away once more and Aomine frowns. Whatever he'd done with Kise yesterday must have given him ideas. "Never mind. I wouldn't worry about it."

* * *

><p>If the remaining (though thankfully uneventful) train ride hadn't been bad enough, the walk to the festival is absolutely awful. Aomine didn't think it was possible to get so lost in such a small town, but considering they can't do anything other than butt heads, they wind up almost hopelessly lost. Luckily the locals are friendly, and help them find their way. It turns out the festival is being held on a small cliff overlooking the beach. It's actually kind of… cute. Small, but cute.<p>

Aomine sighs. This was going to be a long night, wasn't it? _For Kise_, he muses to himself. It's hardly assuring anymore.

Kagami leads the way. He had managed to simmer down his temper some, but he was still pissed off. Aomine feels maybe the tiniest bit bad for him; unlike the rest of them, he had no reason to be here. With Midorima here now, the redhead's original purpose had disappeared. And because of that, Aomine had a feeling they'd have to keep a leash on him if they didn't want him wandering off and getting himself (or them) in trouble.

Whatever. He'd leave that to Tetsu. Kagami was his partner anyway.

With the smaller scale of the event, Aomine figures it can't be hard to find someone like Kise. So long as they followed the crowd, they'd find him soon enough. Kagami, however, has other ideas as he leads the way towards a thinner part of the crowd over by a booth selling decorative masks. A couple is there trying on masks, and Aomine is quick to recognize them.

Tetsu leans in closer to Midorima, murmuring something Aomine just barely catches in his sudden shock. "Are you certain we shouldn't worry, Midorima-kun?"

"Yo," Kagami calls out, and the taller of the two removes his mask, revealing bright golden eyes and a wide smile.

Aomine had sworn to himself no matter what happened, he'd be ready. He would be ready to deal with whatever the world threw at him. Even if _Mai-chan_ was the one hanging off Kise's arm, he'd be ready. Unfortunately, he hadn't been prepared for _this_ outcome.

That momentary confidence boost dissipates in exactly point-zero-two seconds when Aomine does finally see who Kise's with. In fact, it's such a huge blow that he can't even react for several moments. He just stares. Because _oh_ _fuck_, he made a mistake. Even though his face remains passive, Aomine knows Tetsu is sneering at him when he glances up at his former light, and even Kagami's holding back a snicker.

Standing side-by-side with Kise is the only person he thought he could trust in this situation—"What the fuck, Satsuki?"

* * *

><p><em>AN: Lo and behold, Kise's date has been revealed (finally)! I feel like these two need more love, like they are so cute, even just as friends. Unfortunately I had to cut the mischief as the chapter was getting too long. But next chapter should be lots of fun~._


	7. Chapter 6 - Definitely Worth It

_A/N: __God, this chapter did not want to be written. So it was almost finished last month, but my laptop killed itself, and this was legitimately the only thing that was not backed up. I pretty much wrote this whole thing today, though, considering I was not happy with any of the other rewrites I wrote. At first it was gonna be a lot more shippy and stuff, but then I decided "nah, let's just be boring". Sorry.  
><em>_This was supposed to be done two days ago (the 27th) 'cos that was gonna be my birthday present to myself, but uh. Oops. Happy belated birthday to me, I guess. Yaay._

* * *

><p>As it turns out, what Aomine thinks is happening and what's actually happening are two completely different things.<p>

Satsuki immediately throws herself at Tetsu upon first sighting. "Tetsu-kun, you came!" She squeezes him tightly as she embraces him.

"Momoi-san, I can't breathe." She lets up, if only a little, but continues to beam at him.

"I'm so glad you're here! I thought Ki-chan was kidding when he said you and Dai-chan were coming."

The blond pouts. "Why would I kid about that? I'm pretty trustworthy, you know!" Satsuki turns to pat his shoulder consolingly, but doesn't take back her statement.

"It's just so surprising. I didn't expect things to escalate between them so soon!"

"I didn't think so either, but it happened."

"Will you two please stop talking like we aren't right here—,"

"Now that Kagamin's here, we can go explore the festival!" The pink haired girl announces, interrupting her childhood friend.

Aomine raises an eyebrow, navy eyes sliding over to the red haired ace. Kagami doesn't look at him, doesn't look at anyone besides Kise and Satsuki.

Kaijou's ace turns an accusatory look at the redhead. "It took you long enough to get here!" he says, obviously expecting him. "You really should have come with us earlier, ne? Now it looks like it's gonna rain," He points to the overcast sky above.

"I told you I had stuff to do earlier," Kagami replies. "Besides, these guys would've been wandering aimlessly if I hadn't picked them up." Now he glances back at the other three Generation of Miracles players with a rather annoying smirk. Aomine scowls at him. Kagami ignores this in favor of slinging an arm around Kise's shoulders, surprising the blond and further irritating the other power forward. "So did you see any booths worth checking out?"

"Actually," Satsuki starts, mostly detaching herself from Seirin's shadow as she rejoins the conversation, though she still finds a way to cling to him. "We kinda just got here ourselves, since we had to sort out some stuff with the hotel. So we haven't had a chance to scope out the area."

"I saw a poster for a band playing somewhere. Maybe we could check that out?" Kise suggests.

Kagami shrugs, "I'm good, so long as we can get some food. I'm starving."

"You're always hungry," Tetsu murmurs. Satsuki giggles.

"I'm always up for food," Aomine agrees, already pulling Kise (and Kagami in turn) in the direction he gestured to. He doesn't look back to see if the others follow, but he's sure they do.

"Wow, that's a lot of mackerel," Kise comments after they survey the various food booths. Kagami makes a noise of agreement. Most of the booths focus solely on seafood, or at least food that looks like marine life. Which fits the theme of the festival, considering. Still, Aomine really needs a teriyaki burger right now. For the most part, their group orders grilled fish or sushi, but at some point when they shuffled around Midorima must have snuck off to find a vending machine, as he comes back with a can of red bean soup in hand (Aomine can't help but roll his eyes; he receives a hard stare in response).

The band is playing on a rather makeshift stage towards the back of the festival. They aren't bad, but it's not really Aomine's type of music. It's rather mellow, relaxing music. There's a smattering of picnic benches around the "stage", and the six of them cram onto one bench. Somehow Tetsu manages to squeeze between Aomine and Kise, dragging Satsuki behind him. The three of them take up the entire space on their side of the bench—consequently leaving Aomine in the middle of Kagami and Midorima on the other side. Predictably, it's a tight fit. The bench is too small for the three large basketball players. Aomine glares dully at the shadow sitting across from him, who simply slurps on the vanilla milkshake he'd managed to hunt down ("How could you find a vanilla milkshake, and yet there's no teriyaki burgers!?"). Touou's ace grumbles as he takes a bite of the grilled fish in front of him.

"Holy shit," he manages around a mouthful, "this is the best fish I've ever had."

"Don't talk with food in your mouth." Midorima sighs.

"Manners, Aominecchi," Kise seconds, though he looked more amused than reprimanding. Aomine nearly has to physically bite his tongue to keep from muttering a rather crude '_fuck off_'.

"It is good fish, though," Kagami says as he digs in. "But I guess that's a given when it's the only thing this town is known for."

"If it's that good, then I wanna try," Kise pouts slightly. Kagami rolls his eyes before offering the model a bite. He accepts it with a cheerful ' _thank you very much_' before eating it from the other's chopsticks. Aomine tries not to scowl, he honestly does. But he would've shared his fish. Kagami snorts, seeing Aomine's expression darken. Aomine elbows him in the side, to which the other elbows him back. "Mm, that is really good!"

There's a lapse in conversation as the group enjoys the music and the good food. Aomine thinks maybe he can convince the others to leave after this, but also knows that would just be a waste. He pretty much wasted his whole day getting here; the least he could do was enjoy the outing. It's laidback enough that Aomine could probably find some fun (if Bakagami and Tetsu didn't make him miserable).

"It looks like fun, ne?" Kise comments, eyeing the band. He glances back to the redhead sitting across from him. "Can you play any instruments, Kagamicchi?"

Kagami stops shoveling food into his mouth long enough to reply with, "Hm? Uh, I can kinda play the drums."

Kise's eyes light up with more excitement than the situation probably calls for. "Kasamatsu-senpai can play the guitar—we could start our own band"

"Oh yeah?" Kagami says with an amused, though challenging expression on his face. "And what would you do?"

"Sing, of course."

"Of course." He repeats dryly.

Having kept up with the conversation, Kuroko speaks up, "I can play the keyboard."

"Eh? Seriously?" Kise blinks in surprise at the shadow, but quickly grins. "Alright, Kurokocchi's in the band too!"

"I'd help manage your band," Momoi smiles.

Aomine decides to speak up. "I can rap," he offers weakly. Midorima scoffs. Aomine scowls at him. He already feels horribly lame for it, but why should he be left out?

"No you can't." Kise immediately shoots him down with a shake of his head. "Besides, you'd mess up the aesthetic."

Aomine frowns sharply. "What aesthetic do you have that can fit _Bakagami_?"

"A better aesthetic than the one that fits you." Kagami counters.

"Oi, are you trying to piss me off?" Aomine demands.

Kise smiles cheekily. "I don't know what you mean, Aominecchi. I'm just looking out for the good of my band." Touou's ace glares. The blond looks somewhat thoughtful. "It'd be different if it was just you and me, though."

The dark haired ace pauses unsurely. "What do you mean?"

"If it was just us it'd be fine." He clarifies. "The contrast of our skin tones and hair colors would look nice in photos." Kise explains. Aomine feels a hot blush creep up his neck and redirects his gaze. His thoughts roam to places they really shouldn't. It almost pisses Aomine off how easily Kise can say such embarrassing stuff with a straight face. But then he says, "Ah, and I'd look really good with Kurokocchi for the opposite reason, ne?" and the moment is completely pushed aside.

"Ah, Kise, don't move." Kagami says, leaning over the table. He gently swipes his thumb over the corner of the blond's lip, wiping away an excess crumb. He retracts his arm, licking his thumb clean. Kise's face goes bright red; Aomine _sees_ red.

"You know what," Aomine says loudly, struggling out of his seat on the bench. "Ryou made me promise to get him something. Come help me pick something out, Kise."

Kise blinks. "Uh, but—,"

"I'll go too," Tetsu offers—though his feigned nonchalance does nothing to mask his true feelings from Aomine. But he's not really in a position to argue, so he keeps his mouth shut.

The blond pouts. "Alright, _fine_," he says, and he and Tetsu get up from their seats as well. He plasters a grin on his face after untangling his long legs from the bench. "Lead the way, Aominecchi!" Tetsu simply looks at him expectantly.

Aomine takes the time to glare at Kagami as he grabs Kise by the arm and hauls him away from the picnic tables. From the corner of his eye, he catches Tetsu following them, vanilla milkshake still in hand.

As soon as they're out of sight, Kise asks, "So what kind of stuff does Sakurai-kun like?"

"Huh?" Aomine blinks. "Oh, uh, I guess he likes cute stuff," The ace supposes his teammate had girly tastes, anyway, due to his bento.

"You 'guess'," Kise echoes, giving him this _look_, and Aomine totally knows he's being judged _hard_.

"Aomine-kun should know his own teammates better than that by now," Tetsu speaks up from Kise's other side, standing much closer to the blond than he normally would. But of course Kaijou's ace doesn't care about that, too busy focusing on Aomine's faults.

The power forward lets out an annoyed huff, "That's what you two are for, right? So be useful for once and help me out."

"How _mean_, Aominecchi!" Kise pouts. "Don't get mad at us for something that's your own fault." He rolls his eyes. "Well, I saw this booth selling gifts made completely from real seashells found on the beach. It was pretty cute. We could go check it out, if you think he'd like something like that." Aomine gives a reluctant nod, and the blond directs them in the direction of the booth.

Aomine glances at his former light from the corner of his eye, frowning in annoyance. Tetsu catches his scowl and gives him a flat look in response. He leans over and hugs Kise's free arm. Aomine's grip on his other arm tightens. The blond glances at the two blue haired teens in surprise, but doesn't say anything. He just settles awkwardly between them.

The silence between the three of them is tense. Kise is visibly uncomfortable as Aomine fumes and Kuroko keeps his gaze ahead. The small forward's lively disposition has dropped almost entirely, only adding to the awkward atmosphere. Thankfully the booth Kise mentioned isn't too far, so they make it there soon enough. The blond stops them as they reach it. "Alright Aominecchi, you go pick something out, and Kurokocchi and I will wait here."

"Why can't you come with?"

"I'm not going to do all the work for you," the blond says. "It shouldn't take too long, right? We'll just be right here."

"Which is why it should be fine," Aomine argues.

"If Kise-kun wants to stay back with me he can." Tetsu speaks up, and the power forward glares.

"Just come on, Kise, it'll be fine," he says and continues to pull Kise with him.

The small forward wrenches his arm away. "Do _not_ just drag me over there, especially when I just said I want to stay here! No, you shouldn't have made me go with you this far! I wanted to hang out with Momocchi and Kagamicchi—not _you_, okay?" He shakes Tetsu's arm off as well, and he looks so uncharacteristically upset that it stuns Aomine. Neither of the blue haired teens say nor do anything as Kise storms off.

* * *

><p>To say Midorima is regretting his decision to come to this festival is kind of an understatement. Not only did Aomine and Kuroko cart Kise off, but Kagami decided (after several minutes of awkward conversation the Midorima tried his best not to participate in) it would be a good idea to leave the shooting guard alone with one of the many people he never wanted to be left alone with.<p>

"So," Momoi says, leaning across the table with a smile that reads bad things for Midorima. "Now that we're alone, be honest with me: Akashi-kun likes Ki-chan, doesn't he?"

Midorima glances over at her, surprised by the question. It was a rather random question. "Why do you ask?"

She smiles at him knowingly. "Dai-chan said Akashi-kun didn't want him confessing to Ki-chan, so it would only make sense that he has feelings for Ki-chan as well."

"So you know Aomine likes Kise?"

"Of course," she says nonchalantly. "I'm just teasing him over Tetsu-kun. I'd have to be blind not to know about his crush on Ki-chan. It's painfully obvious—just like yours."

The shooting guard turns away. "I don't know what you're referring to."

"Oh please," she laughs, "You've been so careful with him since Inter High—you're so _cute_, Midorin!"

He clenches his jaw. "I'm not cute," he mutters. "And anyway, it doesn't matter, does it? You'll be helping Aomine." They're childhood friends; if Momoi was going to aid anyone's efforts to win Kise over, it would be Aomine.

At his remark, she frowns slightly. "This isn't really about Dai-chan. I would want Ki-chan to end up with the person best for him, whether I was their friend or not. Dai-chan…" she bites her lip. "You know what happened at the end of middle school. Dai-chan and Ki-chan haven't fully reconciled from their falling out, especially after Inter High. But if he's willing to go this far, maybe there's hope for them. I am worried about Dai-chan, though… Ki-chan still holds him at an arm's length. He could be too late. And Akashi-kun certainly isn't going to make it easy for him."

Midorima scoffs. "I suppose you don't have to argue about his 'type' anymore."

"To be honest, I've had a feeling about it for a while," she admits. "I haven't wanted to talk to Ki-chan about it. I don't think he wants Akashi-kun or Dai-chan to like him in that way."

"Why not?"

Her eyes are sad as she answers, "Because that's how all of his friendships end. He's guarded when it comes to making friends, and he tends to believe people are just trying to get close to him to use him. He's been friends with people who have confessed to him, and he's been in relationships with them, but he's told me that they've always ended badly. So he tends to shut down anyone who confesses to him. I may know that Dai-chan and Akashi-kun wouldn't use him like that, and Ki-chan might know, but he doesn't take chances anymore. In all honesty, Akashi-kun may have been helping when he said not to say anything to Ki-chan."

The shooting guard is quiet as he processes the words. Her statements make sense, unfortunately. Kise's too popular for his own good, and that's caused enough problems for the people around him. Midorima's never stopped to wonder just how troublesome that would be for the blond himself. After a moment, he asks, "Why are you telling me this?"

Momoi smiles gently. "Because I know you like Ki-chan, and I know you aren't selfish enough to hold this against him." Her eyes are too trusting. Midorima still doesn't understand completely what she's getting at, but somehow he feels a little better than he did when they started this conversation.

"Is that supposed to mean you're rooting for me?"

She laughs. "Who knows~?"

A muted beep follows her words, and the Touou student stops to fish her cell phone out of her bag. She grimaces at the screen. "Sorry Midorin, but do you mind if I leave for a bit? I have to find Dai-chan." She looks up at him pleadingly, and he agrees. How could he say no? She gives him a relieved smile, and then he's alone with his thoughts. He sighs tiredly. He knew he should have supersized his lucky item today (mobility be damned). Now he's alone.

Yeah, the six hours was _definitely_ worth it.

* * *

><p>"Dai-chan!"<p>

Aomine peers over his shoulder, seeing Satsuki stomping towards him. He sighs, tossing the basketball in his hands towards the small hoop in front of him before turning fully to face her. "What do you want?" he asks her.

She frowns sharply at him. "Where's Ki-chan and Tetsu-kun?"

"Not now, Satsuki—,"

"_This_ is what I was afraid of, you know! You gonna end up all alone if you keep up this crappy attitude!"

"Satsuki, seriously—,"

"You know Ki-chan isn't going to say no to you. Don't keep taking advantage of it. What are you going to do when he isn't here anymore, when he gets fed up and _leaves_?"

"Shut _up_—,"

"Uh, excuse me…"

Both of the teens glance back at the person working the game Aomine had just been playing. Once he's got their attention, he shoves a bright blue stuffed bear into Aomine's hands. "Please just take your prize and go. You're disrupting other patrons."

"I don't want this stupid thing," Aomine argues, but Satsuki's already pulling him off to the side.

"You need to go find Ki-chan and apologize," she says.

"How do you even know what happened?" Aomine grumbles. She may be smart, but there's no way she knows about Kise's little fit.

She rolls her eyes. "Ki-chan texted me. Why else would I be here?"

"If he texted you, then why aren't you with him?" She's who he wanted to be with anyway.

"Kagamin's with him, so I came to get you and Tetsu-kun." She gestures him to lean closer, and he obliging leans down so she can smack the back of his head. Her voice lowers slightly as she gives him a serious look. "If you know what's good for you, you'll go apologize. They're by the cliff overlooking the beach." And with that, she leaves him, presumably to find Tetsu.

"Damn woman," Aomine grumbles under his breath. Nonetheless, he knows she's right—_as usual_. So he decides it wouldn't be a bad idea to go apologize—plus he could offer up the dumb stuffed bear to get rid of.

It isn't hard to find where Satsuki was referring to; he had already been at the edge of the festival, and from there he just had to follow the ocean sounds. The blond and Kagami are just where Satsuki said they were, sitting beside each other. Aomine walks over and seats himself beside the blond.

Kise blinks over at him, but doesn't say anything. Aomine clears his throat, not exactly meeting Kise's gaze. "Uh, sorry about earlier. It wasn't my place to drag you around." He hands the bear over to Kise as a silent peace offering.

Kise smiles, softly at first before it turns into one of his usual grins. "I can't stay mad at Aominecchi," he says, accepting the gift.

"I brought a peace offering as well," Aomine jumps at the voice behind him, twisting around to see Tetsu standing there.

"When did you get here!?"

"The same time Aomine-kun did," he answers.

The blue haired ace scoffs. "You should go find Satsuki. She's probably looking all over the place for you."

"I texted her. She's getting Midorima-kun." He replies matter-of-factly.

Kise's eyes light up, focused on the object in Tetsu's hands as he gets to his feet. "Kurokocchi, did you win a _goldfish_!?" The shadow nods, holding out the bag with the fish towards the copycat. "That's so cool! I've never won that game before!" He takes the bag in his hands, holding it in front of his face and watching the little fish swim around. "I'm gonna name it after you!"

"Two Tetsu's are enough, thank you." Aomine interjects. "Tetsuya Number Three would be redundant."

"Then I'll name it after myself!"

"That's even worse," Kagami deadpans. "The world can only take one Kise Ryouta at a time."

Kise pouts. "_Fine_, then I'll name it after _both_ of us." Even Kuroko looks confused by that. The blond snaps his fingers, smiling once more. "I'll name it Kiko! Get it? It's perfect!"

"That's really dumb," Aomine mutters, wondering if Kise would have been this enthusiastic if Aomine was the on to win a goldfish for him, or if it was only because it was Tetsu.

The blond beams at the tanned male. "Ne, would Aominecchi feel better if I named the teddy bear?" Aomine scowls in response. But Kise ignores this, turning his gaze to the blue bear in his hands. "Hmm… ne, ne, what do you think of Aoki?"

"What are you even trying to do!?" Aomine demands, adamantly denying the blush threatening to show itself. The blond was going to kill him.

"No? What about Ryouki?"

"That's _worse_."

"What's going on?" Midorima questions as he and Satsuki approach.

Kise hands the fish—_Kiko_, apparently—back to Kuroko before moving to throw an arm around Midorima's shoulders. "Ne, you should give me something too so I can name it." He's grinning teasingly, but it quickly dissipates as Midorima dangles a tanuki keychain in front of his face.

"Will this suffice?"

"Uh, I was just kidding," Kise says, but Midorima hands it to him anyway, immediately pushing his glasses up after the exchange. "You guys know it's not my birthday, right?" Kise tries to joke, but it falls flat. "'Kay, right, name…" He runs his teeth over his lower lip before announcing, "How 'bout Ryoutarou?"

"What exactly are you guys doing?" Momoi questions, though she looks a lot less upset than she had earlier.

"I had to name Kurokocchi's goldfish, and then Aominecchi got jealous, and I didn't want to leave Midorimacchi out," Kise explains, flocking over to the pink haired girl. "Okay, okay, but now that we're all here, we should got play some of the games—like the shooting gallery!"

Of course, as soon as he says this, thunder rumbles in the sky, and the clouds let loose a torrent of rain.

"… Or we could go back to the hotel."

Kagami laughs, getting to his feet. "Yeah, sounds like the best plan."

"Come on, Ki-chan, I'm not standing out in the rain!" Momoi tugs on his arm, trying to tuck into his jacket to shield herself from the rain.

"No way, Satsuki. You're sharing a room with me." Aomine argues.

"But Dai-chan, my stuff is already at our hotel room."

"I don't care. Go get it tomorrow."

"No fair, Aominecchi," Kise pouts. "Well fine, if you're going to take my date, I'm going to take yours." He reaches for Tetsu's arm. "Okay, let's go!"

* * *

><p>"Geez, Dai-chan, you're no fun at all," Satsuki whines as they step into their hotel room.<p>

"I don't see how it's my fault you had a shitty time," Aomine sighs.

"You should have just left Ki-chan alone. We all would have had a better time if you could have kept your jealousy in check."

"Shut up," Sometimes Satsuki is just too annoying. He gets into the room, and when he sees it, a horrible understanding hits him. There's just one queen bed in the middle of the room. He's not against sharing a bed with Satsuki; they've done it plenty of times before. But that's not the problem.

"Just so you know, the room Ki-chan and Tetsu-kun are sharing has two beds."

"I said shut up," Aomine looks away to hide his embarrassment.

"Besides, you know Tetsu-kun wouldn't do anything to Ki-chan if they were sharing a bed." She looks at him knowingly.

"Why don't you listen," He grumbles as he tosses a t-shirt at her face. "Go to sleep."

Satsuki beams at him. "You know, as stubborn and lazy as you can be, you'd make a great boyfriend."

"_God_, are you going to keep making dumb remarks, or can we go to bed?"

She whacks him arm with the shirt. "Learn to take a compliment, aho."

* * *

><p>He's preoccupied with the small details. The two of them walk side-by-side down the quiet, empty hallways of the hotel, and Kuroko can't help but notice how close they are. It would be so easy to lean against him or take his hand. Kise looks at him with such unabashed happiness tonight. It gets Kuroko's hopes up, admittedly. He can't help it. With this kind of affection pointed at him, what else can he think?<p>

Kuroko supposes that's what's problematic about Kise. He openly adores those he lets get close to him, and while he can go overboard, it's generally just friendly affection. The shadow isn't sure he could deal with that if he did end up dating Kise. Would the blond reserve that love for Kuroko alone, or would he still continue to love the world along with him? Would he still chase after Aomine and act like Akashi's obedient puppy? Would he still tune in to Oha Asa every once in a while just for Midorima, or give Murasakibara snacks from time-to-time? Would his relationship with Kuroko even change?

He thought before this that he would be okay with that. He thought he could deal with it so long as he was the only one to know Kise intimately. But now he isn't sure. He wants Kise's everything, and he wants Kise to give it all without regards to anyone else. Maybe he's selfish, but he doesn't care. He wants what he deserves, and out of all of them, he feels he's the only one with the right to take Kise. In their later years, the others had dampened the radiance of Kise Ryouta; Kuroko had been the one keeping him alight. He felt he was the only one who deserved the burning passion.

But Kise doesn't realize this, doesn't know this, doesn't realize what they've all done. There's a very real possibility that Kise will never know. That's fine with Kuroko—so long as Kise chooses him.

He feels something heavy draping itself over his head to block the rain, and Kuroko glances up to see Kise smiling gently down at him. He'd settled his jacket over the shadow. "You alright?" he asks, voice strangely hushed. "You seem lost in thought."

Kuroko blinks up at him, very aware of the other's warm touch. Somehow the contact relaxes him. "I'm fine. Just thinking."

The blond hums in acknowledgement. A slight silence settles over them once more. The shadow's gaze falls on their linked arms. Their hands are so close; it would be so easy to reach over and take the other's hand in his own. They'd been in similar situations before, but Kuroko had never had the guts to initiate. He supposed maybe that was part of the reason he was in this mess. He feared rejection, and he let that fear coax him into believing he didn't need anything more from his relationship with Kise. If Akashi hadn't initiated this 'competition' he wondered if he'd have ever tried to act on his feelings—if any of them would have. He hates to even think it, but maybe this was a good idea.

With newly-discovered resolve, Kuroko closes the gap and interlocks their fingers. Kise's hands are warm against his cooler skin. His palms are surprisingly soft, though slightly calloused. Kuroko's fingers slot comfortably between the model's, and everything feels so easy. Hand-holding is supposed to be nerve-wracking, and yet it just feels easy. The shadow feels his own expression soften.

Surprised by the action, Kise seems to stall for a moment before letting their arms drop. "Kurokocchi's been clingy lately," he teases lightly. "You're lucky I love you so much."

It's the shadow's turn to freeze. Those words echo through his head. "Kise-kun," he manages, "you… love me?"

Kise nods, earnest and natural. There isn't a hint of hesitance or embarrassment in his tone or disposition as he declares, "Of course I love you—you're one of my best friends!" The words are equal to a punch to the gut. He stares up at Kise's pleased smile. The shadow can't seem to breathe past the weighing disappointment and crushed hopes. His grip tightens on the other's hand as he debates pulling away.

He decides on simply lowering his head. "I… love Kise-kun as well," he mumbles, and feels vaguely as though a tower of cinderblock had been stacked on his chest.

Kise's breath seems to hitch, but Kuroko assumes he just imagines it. "Hm? Did you say something?"

"No, it's nothing." He says, and doesn't speak again until they reach the hotel. Once they're inside the building, he shrugs off Kise's jacket and hands it back to the blond, who is effectively drenched. He hurries to get the two of them to the room so they can dry off.

It's a surprisingly large room with two double beds on either side of a large nightstand. Kise and Momoi hadn't bothered to unpack, just leaving their bags on the beds. Kise walks into the on-suite bathroom, grabbing a towel to throw around his shoulders before reaching for a dry change of clothes.

"I don't have anything to change into," Kuroko says. He hadn't been able to get his stuff from the room he was originally supposed to share with Aomine.

"I'm sure Momocchi wouldn't mind if you borrowed her stuff," Kise jokes. Kuroko gives him a hard stare in response. "Kidding, you can borrow one of my t-shirts." He tosses a shirt at Kuroko as he towel dries his hair. "Even though we didn't see much of the festival, I'm exhausted."

"You should go to sleep, then." Kuroko get under the cover. He doesn't want to admit it, but he's tired too.

The blond crawls into the bed after changing. "Yeah, okay. Good night, Kurokocchi." He flicks off the lights.

"Good night, Kise-kun."

* * *

><p>"Tell me again how this happened."<p>

"Hey, it's not _my_ fault _you_ forgot to rent your own hotel room."

"This is the worst." Midorima glares up at the dark ceiling, trying and failing to ignore the heavy presence of the other ace beside him in the bed.

"You're welcome to sleep on the floor." Kagami snaps. "Move over, you're taking up the whole bed."

"I'm falling off the edge,"

"Well I'm barely even keeping myself on the bed."

"I'm not moving."

"Don't make me shove you."

"You're allowed to sleep on the floor as well."

"This fucking sucks."

* * *

><p><em>AN: __Most of this is just stuff that I guess will be important later? Sorry, I wrote this more out of obligation than anything. That, and I really want to write the next chapter.  
><em>_Speaking of, Akashi fans should be relived, because yay yay, Akashi's (first) chapter will be next, and then the chapter after will be MuraKise, and then I guess I'll just mess around. .-."_

_I hope this was at least somewhat enjoyable? IDK, I'm rlly tired... probably gonna go watch the Kurokono Tasuke arc in Gintama again (all knb fans need to watch it btw, it was the best experience of my life)._


	8. Chapter 7 - Captain's Getting Laid

_A/N: I'm so sorry about being MIA for so long! I was planning on re-posting this chapter with the next one, but it's been taking a lot longer than I expected, whoops._

* * *

><p>Kuroko wakes up alone in the empty hotel room the next morning. The setting is so cliché he almost laughs. Instead he sits up and ignores how much this feels like a dumb TV drama. The fact that he was wearing Kise's t-shirt did not help in the slightest. The sleeve slips from his shoulder as he crawls out of the bed.<p>

There's a note left on his bedside table, courtesy of Kise. His handwriting is usually neat and precise, but here it's messier and more hurried than Kuroko's used to seeing. Still, he'd taken the time to draw little faces in the margins. It simply said that he'd be waiting in the breakfast lounge downstairs with the others. He also told the shadow to take his time; the train for Tokyo wasn't leaving for another few hours. Kuroko checks the digital clock. Yeah, none of them would be making it back in time for school today.

He gets ready, still groggy. He hadn't gotten much rest with everything that had happened last night. He'd been hyper-aware of the presence sleeping beside him, so close and yet so far. He had barely been able to keep his eyes closed—especially with how restless Kise himself had been. It seemed like neither of them had gotten much sleep, though for entirely different reasons. If he didn't do something soon, Kise was going to kill him, he was sure of it. With only slight regard for the blond's feelings, he stashes the t-shirt he'd borrowed into his own bag. Kise probably wouldn't miss the article of clothing; in fact, he probably already forgot about it. Kuroko changes back into his clothes from yesterday before heading downstairs.

The first thing Kuroko sees when he steps inside the breakfast lounge is his former and current light arguing at their own table, whereas Momoi and Kise (along with Kiko, whom was simply swimming around its plastic bag) are at another table. Midorima is the only one missing. Kuroko decides it would be best to sit with the blond and the pink haired girl. Kise is nursing a Styrofoam coffee cup in his hands, head resting against his arms. Momoi has a book in hand, reading silently while sipping at her own hot drink. It's still miserable-looking outside with overcast skies and a slight drizzle of rain. Not one of the four looks fully awake.

Kuroko sits between the two normally lively teens. "Good morning Kise-kun, Momoi-san," he greets. Momoi instantly brightens at his appearance and returns his greetings with a little too much enthusiasm. Kise, on the other hand, only manages a small wave without lifting his head.

"I brought your stuff, Tetsu-kun." The pink haired girl says, pushing the bag on the floor towards him. He thanks her as Kagami settles heavily into the seat between them.

"Remind me to never go on another outing with you guys again. Don't even think to invite me." The redhead complains. "Midorima is the worst roommate."

"Oh yeah, you two had to share a bed, huh?" Momoi says, and Aomine barks out a laugh as he pulls up a chair beside her and the listless blond. "But Midorin's not that bad, is he?"

"He moves too much in his sleep," the redhead grumbles. Kise huffs with apparent amusement, but it comes off as tired. Kagami peers over at him. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?"

"The coffee hasn't kicked in yet," the blond mumbles. He waves the empty coffee cup towards him. "Kagamicchi, go get me a refill." Kagami rolls his eyes, but obliges the other. Aomine frowns as he watches the other power forward leave.

"Is Midorima-kun still upstairs?" Kuroko asks, successfully drawing back the tanned ace's attention.

Momoi shakes her head. "Midorin caught a flight back to Tokyo. His father didn't want him missing school." Kise snorts as he burrows further into his folded arms. Momoi frowns at him. "Ki-chan, you really don't look alright."

"I'm fine, seriously," Kaijou's ace sits up, finally revealing his face. His complexion is pale and eyes still glossy from sleep, but otherwise he looks fine. He reaches for his own bag on the floor. "After Kagamicchi comes back, I'm gonna jet. My train leaves soon. Speaking of, Kurokocchi, do you mind taking care of Kiko for me? I won't be able to take him with me, and I can come pick him up tomorrow." Kuroko nods, gently pulling the fish's bag towards him.

"Our train doesn't leave for another hour." Aomine points out with a frown.

Kise waves him off. "I'm not taking the train to Tokyo. I've got stuff to do in Kyoto, and that train leaves earlier." This statement peaks Kuroko's interest. Having 'stuff to do in Kyoto' usually spelled bad news for _someone_, considering Akashi was more-often-than-not involved.

The tanned male's expression darkens. "Yeah, and what are you doing there?"

"I've got a job there," Kise shrugs, then sighs. "I told my manager I was taking the day off from school, and she immediately booked me a photoshoot. How unfair is that?"

"Sounds like it's your own fault," Aomine says, nudging the blond's arm. "Besides, how hard is it to stand in front of a camera? I'd be more worried about possible Akashi sightings."

Kise gives him a funny look, eyebrows creasing and lips pulling downward. "That's a little mean, Aominecchi. Akashicchi isn't bad to hang out with."

"Are you going to see him today?" Momoi asks, adding sugar to her coffee a little too casually. Kuroko glances at her from the corner of his eye, noticing her falsely-innocent smile.

He turns his head, fringe sweeping to the side and revealing his reddened face. "Well, we made plans," he says quietly, and the tumblers in Kuroko's head click into place. The way Kise acted when Akashi asked the blond to his family's gala, the way he tensed and changed the subject when Kuroko mentioned Akashi last week, the way he's behaving right now—what if Kise _likes_ Akashi?

"It's good that you boys are getting together more often." Momoi continues. "We'll have to plan something with all eight of us!"

"Eight?" Aomine echoes.

"We can't forget about Kagamin!"

"Don't try to get rid of me," Kagami warns, returning from his trip to get coffee. He places a Styrofoam cup in front of the blond, who thanks him.

"I guess it's time for me to go," Kise says hurriedly. He stands a bit clumsily, almost knocking his chair over. "I'll see you guys soon, ne?"

"Yeah, soon," Aomine agrees.

"Be careful, Kise-kun." Kuroko says in goodbye.

Kise smiles, "I'll leave checkout to you, Momocchi. Try not to kill each other on the way home!" He offers them goodbye hugs (to which Momoi is the only one to accept the gesture), and leaves the hotel.

"That idiot's too dangerous," Aomine mutters, and Kuroko silently but wholeheartedly agrees. This only reaffirmed his thoughts earlier: Kise would be the death of them all.

Kagami sighs, settling into his seat. He runs a hand through his hair, suddenly seeming much more tired than he had moments before. "Hey, Momoi—,"

"Oh!" Momoi exclaims, "Ki-chan left his bag behind! You should catch him before he's gone, Dai-chan." She grabs the bag that had been left under the seat Kise had been residing in and hands it to her childhood friend.

"Kagami can do it," he argues, tossing the bag at the redhead. Kagami frowns, but takes it and leaves to follow the blond.

Aomine turns to face the pink haired girl. "Is there something you'd like to share?"

"Hm, what do you mean, Dai-chan?" She questions, tone saccharine sweet. "You're the one who sent off my prime suspect."

"'Prime suspect'?" he echoes. Then disbelief takes his expression. "Wait, are you trying to imply Kise has a crush on _Kagami_?"

"I'm pretty sure I did more than imply," Momoi says. "It makes sense, don't you think?"

"Obviously not," Aomine scoffs. "Why the hell would Kise be interested in Bakagami? They barely hang out."

Momoi purses her lips. "It's strange you'd say that, considering Ki-chan invited Kagamin to the festival last night before he even told you he was going. It seems weird to invite someone he 'barely hangs out with' as opposed to you or Tetsu-kun, ne?"

"And what about Akashi-kun?" Kuroko asks quietly.

The girl looks at him with silent approval. "Maybe Ki-chan has a thing for redheads."

Aomine makes a gagging noise. "That's gross, Satsuki."

"To each their own," she shrugs. "Can't exactly say he's got bad tastes."

"Anyone who likes _Akashi_ has bad tastes."

"Akashi-kun has more going for him than _you_ do." She reminds. "Where you've only got your basketball-brain, Akashi-kun is smart, handsome, polite, and wealthy. There's no competition on which one of you would make the better bachelor. I'm kind of jealous, to be honest—but my heart will always belong to Tetsu-kun~!" She leans over the empty seat to wrap her arms around Kuroko's waist. The shadow blinks down at her. He wonders why she'd continue to profess her love to him when she obviously knew he wasn't interested. He then wonders if he'd be doing the same to Kise if the blond ended up with someone else.

Aomine frowns, likely stuck contemplating the truths Momoi just laid on him. "He set this up so we wouldn't be able to interfere," he muses aloud. "That's twice he's done something like this."

Kuroko glances at him, watching his expression morph from frustration to defeat. "Are you going to give up?" He inquires quietly.

The ace blinks. "Huh? Do you think I'm that much of a pushover? No way—Kise's gonna have to tell me to my face that he isn't interested."

Momoi bites her lip. "Be careful, alright? I don't you to lose Ki-chan as a friend."

"Don't worry, Satsuki." Amine says dismissively. "Kise's got thick skin. Besides, this can't be the first time this has happened to him."

"That's what I'm worried about," Momoi murmurs.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just… Don't do things blindly, okay? Keep Ki-chan's feelings in mind. Please. Even if he doesn't return your feelings, you both are important to him."

"I know that," Aomine snaps, growing defensive. "I know what I'm doing, alright?"

"If what happened last night was any indication, you really don't." With that, she gathers her stuff and leaves the breakfast lounge.

Aomine groans, slouching forward. "Why can't she just tell me outright what she's trying to say?"

* * *

><p>It's been a while since Akashi has felt like someone's underclassman; he'd almost forgotten what it was like. Unfortunately, the other Rakuzan starters have no problems in reminding him.<p>

"You're too young for this kind of commitment," Mibuchi reprimands. He looks more like a stern mother than a high school student admonishing his underclassman. Hayama stands beside him, nodding his agreement. Nebuya simply picks his nose as he watches. Akashi just stares flatly at the three, unimpressed by their idiotic display but patiently waits for them to move on.

"There's no 'commitment' involved." The red haired captain explains. "We're simply enjoying an evening out together. It's more business than anything—not a date."

"But you're treating it like a date," Hayama points out unhelpfully.

Mibuchi lets out a melodramatic, obviously-fake sob and throws his arms around Akashi's smaller frame. "Sei-chan! Stop growing up so fast! I won't let some dumb blond steal your innocence!"

"You will not address Ryouta as 'some dumb blond' ever again." Akashi warns, shrugging the older teen off of him. "Secondly, this does not concern you. My affairs are my own."

"So you _are_ going out on a date!" Hayama yells, expression _horrified_. "Akashi, you can't do more than kiss on the first date!"

"You will not waste your first time on a Casanova model!" Mibuchi demands.

Nebuya blinks, tuning back into the conversation. "Wait, Captain's getting laid?"

"_Stop talking_." Akashi snaps, finally losing his patience. "We aren't doing anything like that. We aren't even in a romantic relationship." He pulls his bag out of his locker and settles a firm look on the three. "Go back to practice and stop trying to meddle in my personal life before I double your training menu."

"But Akashi," Hayama whines.

"Triple."

Reluctantly, the three trudge off towards the gym, Mibuchi offering a look full of dangerous promises. Akashi watches them go before he exits the club room and approaches his waiting limousine. His driver greets him politely and drives off towards the studio Akashi promised to meet Kise at.

He's in the studio for less than thirty seconds before he hears the familiar call of "Akashicchi!" and registers an excitable blur of yellow rushing towards him.

"Hello, Ryouta," he greets, amusement pulling at his expression. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

Kise shakes his head vehemently. "No, we were just finishing up! You've got perfect timing—as always." There's a teasing edge to his tone as he smiles. "Just let me grab my stuff, and we can go."

True to his word, Kise returns in less than a minute with his bag slung carelessly over his shoulder. His eyes are bright, movements energetic. It reminds the redhead of their time spent back in Teikou, and Akashi can't help but smile fondly. "It's good to see you again." He tells Kise.

The blond beams as Akashi leads him out the door. "I may have to take more jobs in Kyoto if that's what it takes for us to find time to hang out."

"I don't remember hearing you ask to see me," Akashi comments.

"Aha," Kise sheepishly raises a hand to scratch his cheek. "Yeah, I guess I haven't kept in contact as well as I should. But I'm going to change that! Because if I don't keep everyone in check, who will?" He flashes a determined thumbs up with a cheeky smirk. Akashi smiles as well.

"Good to hear." They approach the limousine waiting for them outside, and the driver gets out to open the door for them. Akashi steps aside to allow Kise to slide in before following with practiced grace. Kise slumps rather heavily into his seat, briefly closing his eyes as he releases a tired breath. He notices Akashi watching him and flashes a quick smile.

"So what's first on today's itinerary? Or are we making things up as we go?"

"I arranged for us to be fitted for tuxedos." Akashi tells him. "But I'm sure you guessed that already. It's something that needs to be done before the gala. The tuxedos are already made, as I sent the measurements necessary, but they do need to be altered."

"Right," Kise nods. "I know the drill." He shrugs his bag onto the seat beside him and leans back. "Anything after that?"

"We'll see," is all Akashi chooses to say. Kise pouts in response, but doesn't say anything. Akashi offers him a sideways glance. "So how are the others?"

"You've seen them recently. Midorimacchi's doing well, and Aominecchi and Kurokocchi seem to be reconnecting… kinda," he shrugs. "Momocchi misses hanging out, so expect some calls from her. And you've probably talked more to Murasakibaracchi than I have."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because he likes you more than he likes me," Kise shifts in his seat, dismissing the question. "It takes me a lot of effort to get him to do anything, you know? Besides, I haven't had the time recently."

"That seems like an awful lot of excuses."

"Not excuses—_reasons_. If I only had one _reason_, I wouldn't let it get in my way." He folds his hands, as if looking for something to do with them. "Uh, not that I really have any reason to see Murasakibaracchi anyway. We don't really have that much in common."

"That didn't stop you in middle school," Akashi points out.

"Yeah, but Aominecchi or Midorimacchi was usually there too. Why are you suddenly so interested in my relationship with him anyway?" Akashi can see the way his shoulders have formed a tense line, the way he tries to subtly cross his arms in defense. He's guarded, as if expecting an attack from the redhead. It's a surprisingly drastic change from moments before. Understanding, Akashi does his best to remain disarming.

"I was simply trying to initiate conversation. You seem tense."

Kise blinks, dropping his defenses. "Oh. Sorry, I'm just a bit tired. Longer photoshoots tend to wear me out." The apologetic smile he offers is practiced, but Akashi doesn't mind it. He understands he isn't given the full truth, but he appreciates Kise being at least somewhat honest with him. As much as everyone wants to think Kise wears his heart on his sleeve, the blond tends to keep his real feelings to himself. It's a barrier Akashi is keen on wearing down.

"We don't have to visit today, if you're too tired." Akashi offers.

Kise shakes his head vehemently. "No! I'm fine, really!" He says, "Anyway, you've already went to the trouble of setting up appointments and reservations. I'd hate to leave before we've had any fun."

Akashi nods, finding amusement in the fact Kise was the only one to predict his thoughts and actions. "I never said I made any plans. Who's to say I set up anything after the fitting?"

"Please, Akashicchi, you never keep things simple. You probably set up the fitting so we'd have an excuse to go somewhere expensive for dinner, maybe go to some exclusive art exhibit or whatever else you've got up your sleeve."

"Hm, that sounds like something one would reserve for a romantic outing."

Kise blinks, effectively jarred out of the sense of ease he'd regained. "Uh—it was just an example. I didn't mean you actually _would_ do that today—with me—I mean, uh—,"

Akashi lays a hand on the blond's arm, cutting off his string of excuses. "I was teasing you, Ryouta." He states, and Kise relaxes.

"Right. Of course."

The limousine stops in front of the tailor's shop. The car door opens, and Akashi offers a small smile. "Ready?"

The blond ace nods. "Yeah. Let's go."

True to his word, it doesn't take long for the tuxedos to be altered. The measurements had been detailed enough to get an accurate fit, and there were only a few details that needed fixed.

"These are nice," Kise comments, smoothing out the jacket of his tuxedo as he watches himself in the mirror. "High-quality material. Must be expensive."

Akashi dismisses the observation. "It's fine. My father pays twice that for his own suits."

Kise smirks knowingly. "I was just saying. I know I can't change your mind about this kind of stuff." He adjusts the sleeves and hums absently under his breath. His smile softens. "I'm glad you invited me out here."

"Of course," Akashi replies. "Now come on, get changed and we'll get something to eat."

"Sounds good~," They separate into different dressing rooms to change back into their own clothes.

The restaurant isn't far from the tailor shop. Kise follows Akashi down the street and into the sleek double doors of a popular French restaurant. The hostess shows them to the table Akashi reserved, and Kise smiles smugly at him. "I knew you had plans."

"I never said I didn't." Akashi replies deliberately.

"That's true," Kise sits down carefully at the table. He seems to have bounced back to his usual cheery self. Even so, there's something subdued about his actions that Akashi can't help but notice. After the waiter takes their drink orders and leaves, Akashi decides to press Kise a bit.

"How are you doing?" Akashi asks him, watching his expression.

Kise doesn't shy from the question. "Good! I've been busier lately, with jobs of course, but like I said earlier, the other guys are keeping me on my toes. Or, maybe that's my own fault." He shrugs, absently flipping through one of the menus. "The seniors are getting ready for entrance exams, but Kasamatsu-senpai still stops by the club room a lot, which is cool. I think the transition is going to be hard on him. He's really attached to Kaijou."

"Mayuzumi certainly doesn't hold the same sentiments." The redhead counters. "I'm unsure of whether or not to take credit for that."

"I'm sure he had more fun in the club thanks to you," Kise reassures. "If you hadn't been captain, he likely would've never played first-string. Besides, we've all done things we regret." The blond traces indistinguishable patterns into the pages of the menu with his finger, eyes distant.

Akashi starts to reply, but he's cut off by the shrill call of, "_Sei-chan_!" He turns, and holds back a sigh as he spots three of his teammates quickly approaching. "What a surprise!" Mibuchi gushes as he gets close enough, beaming down at the redhead. "Who would have guessed we'd see you here?"

"You heard me making the reservations, didn't you?"

"Ne, are you trying to imply we're spying on you?" Mibuchi pouts. "How rude, Sei-chan. This is totally just coincidence!"

"Definitely!" Hayama pitches in. "I love Italian!"

"Isn't this a French restaurant?" Nebuya muses aloud.

"Is it? Whoops," He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I like French too."

Mibuchi levels an exasperated look at the other two. "I told you to keep your mouths shut," he hisses. Akashi suppresses the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yes, well, I think it would be best if you left us alone." The Rakuzan captain says, a warning edge in his tone.

The dark haired teen ignores this, settling in the chair beside Akashi. "Nonsense, Sei-chan, we want to meet your date." Hayama nods vehemently in agreement, the blond sitting in the empty seat on Akashi's other side while Nebuya carelessly pulls up another chair between the two blondes. The shooting guard offers his hand to Kise, smile saccharine sweet. "Mibuchi Reo, Sei-chan's right-hand man."

"Ne, I thought I was his right-hand man." Hayama argues.

"I'm his left-hand man." Nebuya announces.

Kise smiles in amusement, accepting Mibuchi's handshake. "I'm Kise Ryouta, Kaijou's ace. It's good to finally meet Akashicchi's teammates."

Hayama seems to look at Kise for the first time. His eyes light up with recognition. "You're the model my sister likes! And Reo-nee, don't you have some of his magazines—?" Mibuchi tosses a menu at his teammate's face.

Nebuya scrutinizes the Kaijou student with squinted eyes. He lifts up one of the blond's arms and peers at his bicep. "Where's all your muscle?"

"Huh?" Kise blinks, attempting to pull away.

"You've held your own against Kiyoshi and his team, and you can copy Aomine Daiki and Murasakibara Atsushi. You've gotta be packing major muscles somewhere." The tanned teen reasons.

"Uh…" Kise glances at Akashi, as if unsure of what to say.

"You're the only one with that kind of thinking," Mibuchi sighs. "That kind of muscle isn't attractive, so of course Kise-kun is more lean than muscular. You do realize what a model's job is, right?"

Sticking his pinky finger in his ear, Nebuya replies, "I thought they just stood still and got their picture taken."

"That's the second time I've heard that today," Kise laments under his breath, pouting slightly.

Hayama bounces back, leaning over Nebuya to get right in the other blond's face. "So what's it like being famous? I bet you're popular with girls, ne? Got any tips for picking up chicks, by the way? No, wait, do you know anyone famous? Do you hang out with model babes?"

Kise presses a hand to the older boy's mouth. "First, I'm not that popular. Second, don't call them 'chicks or 'babes'. Third, you'll have to define 'famous'."

The older boy frowns, glancing cross-eyed down at Kise's hand. He attempts to say something, but his words are muffled. The model pulls away, and Hayama immediately begins talking again. Nebuya pushes him back in his seat.

"So, Kise-kun," Mibuchi says, sitting up straighter. "What are you intentions with our Sei-chan?" and now _their _intentions have become crystal clear.

Kaijou's ace blinks, choking out, "What?"

"As his senpai and teammates, we need to make sure you won't hurt our dear kouhai." The dark haired teen shrugs.

"What are you talking about?" Kise asks him. "We're not dating or anything."

"In that case, what kind of a man are you interested in?" Mibuchi leans closer, face inches from Kise's.

"Definitely not someone as pushy as you," Kise counters, gently yet firmly pushing the older teen back by his shoulder. The shooting guard pouts.

"You're not exactly my type either," he retorts, pride wounded. Nebuya and Hayama both scoff to themselves.

Kise shrugs. He turns to Akashi. "I'll be right back. If the waiter comes by, don't worry about ordering me anything." He offers a smile as he leaves the table.

Akashi turns to his teammates. "If you're just here to throw accusations and make empty threats, I suggest you leave."

"How cruel, Sei-chan." Mibuchi protests. "We're just looking out for you."

"I don't need looked after—especially not from Ryouta."

"We're only trying to do what's best for you—," Hayama argues.

Akashi quickly shuts him down, "You do not _know_ what's best for me. You don't even know the circumstances. Don't harass Ryouta simply because you think it's necessary as my 'senpai'."

The expression the blond gives is one full of surprise and slight hurt. "Sorry, Akashi," Hayama apologizes quietly. "We just wanted to meet Kise."

"Ryou-chan is quite cute," Mibuchi agrees. "Maybe too cute. Are you sure there isn't someone else for you? After all, Ryou-chan doesn't quite seem like your type. Or maybe I should take him out for further investigation—,"

"Don't even consider doing inappropriate things to my former teammates." Akashi tells him.

"Didn't you just say he wasn't your type?" Hayama smirks.

"I wanna test his skills," Nebuya announces, unprompted. "I still haven't played any Generation of Miracles players—besides Captain, anyway."

"Hm, true." Mibuchi murmurs. "I wonder if he can copy my Void Shot."

"I'm sure you'll see the extent of Ryouta's abilities at some point in the future," Akashi says deliberately. "But we don't have the time for that today. But, as you're so determined to disobey me, I'll permit you to stay for dinner." Hayama perks up. "However, you won't make any more interrogation attempts or try to scare him off." Not that Akashi thinks they would succeed, the three were simply annoying when they attempted to do anything besides sport-related activities together. They made for a rather _dysfunctional_ team off the basketball court.

The waiter finally returns with Akashi's and Kise's drinks, and the other three Rakuzan students order their own drinks. Kise slinks back soon after he leaves, slumping rather heavily into his seat. Akashi raises a brow when he sees the blond's red-rimmed, glassy eyes and tired demeanor.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

Kise blinks over at him. "Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm okay." Akashi isn't convinced. The blond looks more disheveled than he had before he left, and he seems paler. Something is obviously wrong.

Noticing this as well, Mibuchi voices his own concern. "You don't look okay, Ryou-chan."

"'Ryou-chan'?" Kise echoes, surprised. "Wait, I mean, uh, I don't really have much of an appetite; would it be alright if we left?"

"If that's what you want to do," Akashi agrees.

"Yeah, thanks," Kise closes his eyes briefly, only getting up after Akashi does. The redhead leaves some money on the table for the drinks and leads the blond and his teammates out of the restaurant.

"I'll call my driver to pick us up." He tells Kise. Kaijou's ace nods. Akashi steps away from the group to make the call. His driver promises to be there in a few minutes. He turns to relay the news to Kise in time to see the blond collapse.

Nebuya catches him, hooking his arm around the ace's chest. Kise is limp in his hold. Akashi hurries over, instructing Nebuya to stand him up. Kise blinks back into awareness as Nebuya pulls him upright. His brows pull together in slight confusion.

"What happened?" He asks blearily.

"You blacked out." Akashi tells him.

Mibuchi presses his hand to the younger teen's forehead, Kise following the movement with his eyes. He clicks his tongue in admonishment. "You've got a fever." He points out.

"Mhm…"

"The driver will be here soon." Akashi tells him. Kise watches his lips, concentrating on his words. The point guard frowns. He feels disappointed, not because this ruined their plans, but because Kise had found it necessary to sacrifice his own wellbeing for Akashi's sake.

While they wait for Akashi's driver, Mibuchi apparently has decided to adopt Kise as his younger brother and coos soothingly to the younger blond. "It's alright, Ryou-chan. Sei-chan will take care of you." Kise hums in acknowledgement, closing his eyes again. Mibuchi strokes the Kaijou student's hair, and Hayama rolls his eyes with a pout. Meanwhile, Nebuya couldn't care less about his current surroundings as he ignores Hayama and blocks out Mibuchi's voice. Akashi finds some amusement in the scene, even if he's still a bit annoyed.

The driver pulls up in the sleek black limousine. He steps out to open the door for the heir. Akashi directs Nebuya to maneuver Kise into the car before climbing in. He thanks his teammates (after repeatedly telling Mibuchi and Hayama that no, they were not permitted to ride along), and bids them goodbye. The shooting guard smiles saccharine sweet as they drive off.

Akashi settles Kise's head in his lap, resting his hands on blond hair. "If you weren't feeling well, you should have said something."

"I didn't want to be alone, and I felt bad about cancelling." Kise mumbles apologetically, guiltily. "Sorry. You have more important things to do than deal with me."

Akashi sighs soundlessly, fingers brushing through soft fringe. "I'd rather take care of you than leave you to look after yourself in this state. You're important to me." He massages the tension out of the ace's temples. The tense lines quickly dissipate, and the blond's body relaxes.

"Thank you, Akashi." He murmurs before drifting off.

* * *

><p>Kise doesn't wake up until after Akashi has him settled in one of the guest rooms at his house. Akashi perches on the other side of the queen size bed, absently flipping through TV channels to find something of substance to watch. Kise stirs back into wakefulness when Akashi settles on a movie about a typical love triangle with a girl unable to choose between two guys. Kise blinks blearily, slowly taking in his surroundings.<p>

"You've only been asleep for an hour." Akashi tells him. Kise nods, stretching out his arms to reach for Akashi. The redhead brushes their hands together. "How are you feeling?"

"Nauseous," Kise admits, and the Rakuzan student understands he must be feeling awful if he's willing to admit it so easily. Kise rolls onto his side, offering a tired smile. "Thanks for this. I mean, I know this was the least ideal situation, but I'm glad you didn't just leave me to find a way home or something."

"It offends me to know you think I'd even consider doing that to you." Akashi replies dryly.

"I don't expect anyone to do me any favors." Kise says, waving him off weakly. He angles his body so he can see the TV on the opposite wall. "What are you watching?"

Akashi shrugs. "Thousands of channels, and yet there's nothing worth watching on any of them. Television is a waste of time."

"I'd agree, but it's kind of an important part of my job." Kise jokes as his attention drifts to the drama unfolding onscreen. The movie had reached its apparent climax. The female protagonist was being confronted by her two love interests as they both demanded for her to choose who she wanted to be with. But the girl still claimed to be in love with both of them, and ran off when she couldn't take their harsh words any more. The girl, blindly running through the streets, ends up getting run over by a car in the most overdramatic sequence Akashi had ever seen, as well as one of the worst endings he'd witnessed.

"You should have turned on trash TV instead," Kise yawns. "At least that would have been entertaining." He shuffles closer to the other, draping his upper body over Akashi's lap and stealing the remote. He switches the channel to a network that mainly plays game shows and reality TV. "See, better."

"If anything, this just makes me lose faith in our generation." Akashi responds with distaste. Kise enjoys it, however, so he doesn't bother trying to get him to change it. Kise's body is almost uncomfortably warm against his own, and he preoccupies himself with finding ways to lower the other's body temperature. But Kise presses against him, and Akashi supposes he'll let Kise find a comfortable position on his own.

Kise's body curls around Akashi's, an arm wrapping around the redhead's waist. His face nestles into the shorter teen's side. Akashi tenses slightly, suddenly tentative. He wasn't used to being clung to like this. Kise wasn't shy about throwing himself at people, but the gesture was never as intimate as this felt. But he supposes Kise is a social creature who, thrives off physical attention and affection, so Akashi does his best to relax.

Glazed-over yellow eyes peer up at Akashi's face from where his own is pressed against the other. "Oh… am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No, not at all." Akashi denies. "I am simply unused to this sort of… attention." Kise starts to pull away, and something in Akashi's chest lurches in protest. He grabs the blond's shoulder with possibly a little too much force, and holds him in place. "It's fine. Honestly." Kise concedes without a word, sinking back into the embrace. Akashi carefully rests a hand against the ace's back. The other leans into the touch.

"I'll go home soon," Kise tells him, tone absent. "Once I feel better I'll leave, if that's okay. I could go now, though, if you want."

"You won't be going home until _I_ deem you're alright." Akashi tells him. "I've already called your manager to cancel your appointments tomorrow, and I alerted your school about your absences."

"Oh," Kise seems surprised by the gesture. He winces. "Ah, I had a really important shoot tomorrow."

"They seemed more than willing to reschedule." The Kaijou student makes a displeased noise. "Why don't you get some sleep? Your body needs the rest."

Kise's arms wind tighter around the redhead. "Don't leave."

Akashi brushes lean fingers down the blond's back. "I wasn't planning on it." Kise doesn't reply, but the Rakuzan captain feels his grip relax. It doesn't take much longer for the other to drift off. Akashi sighs. "You're so high maintenance. It's a good thing you're worth it."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I wanted to say thank you guys for all the kudos and comments. Every time I get a new comment, my motivation to write is renewed. I try to reply to as many comments as I can, and I really really appreciate it._


	9. Chapter 8 - Selfish

I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but it feels like it's been ten thousand years since I last updated, so I'm just gonna leave this here...

* * *

><p>Sometimes, Murasakibara wonders why he even bothers.<p>

"Why not talk to her?"

"She already rejected me yesterday…"

"Oh for God's sake,"

He didn't want to be here at all, but Himuro had _insisted_. So the giant had been called upon for _moral support_ while his unfortunate team captain ran around hitting on every girl in sight. Currently, they were on day three of their little "mission".

It was not going well.

Okamura was a true, unrivaled failure at picking up girls. It was well past painful to watch; it was almost awing. The purple haired giant had never witnessed someone be consecutively rejected so many times in so many different ways; he had to be breaking some sort of record. Watching Yosen's gorilla-of-a-man basketball captain fail at getting a single girl to consider going on a date with him was surprisingly educational. For instance: just because you're the captain of the school's basketball team does not mean girls will be interested. Another: being tall and strong did not automatically make you a contender. Third: Okamura was only a self-proclaimed ladies' man (not that Murasakibara hadn't known that already). Fourth: Yosen's basketball team made for both horrible wingmen and terrible moral supporters.

"I hope you guys are taking notes," Fukui comments, "because our captain is the perfect example of exactly everything you should _not_ do when talking to girls."

"Even I'm offended just watching him," Himuro murmurs in agreement.

Their captain dejectedly makes his way back over to his teammates, metaphorical tail between his legs. "I guess they aren't biting today,"

"Dude," Fukui says flatly. "Girls ain't fish." Liu nods.

Himuro looks thoughtful, "Maybe you just need a new tactic." He suggests, the only one bothering to be somewhat supportive.

"Yeah, yeah," Fukui cuts him off, waving his hand dismissively. "But I was thinkin'; I know what kinda girls you and Muscle Gorilla here like, but," he turns to Murasakibara, "what about our lazy ace here?"

The center blinks, head tilting to the side. "His kind of girl"? Was Fukui asking for his "type"? Well, the joke's on him. Murasakibara doesn't have a "type", per se, more like he's pinning after one specific person.

But even Himuro looks curious, so Murasakibara decides it would be okay to humor them a little. "Someone who gives me snacks," his disinterest in the question rings clear in his tone. Fukui makes an irritated noise.

Himuro decides to step in before Fukui snaps at the petulant underclassman, "He's trying to ask what you look for in a girl, Atsushi, not what you would want her to do for you."

The purple haired male sighs. "What does it matter?" Why is it any of their business?

"It matters more than you think," Fukui insists. "You don't wanna look like some jackass who thinks any girl's fine, as long as they buy you candy." He crosses his arms, looking the younger boy up and down. "I know today wasn't the best representation of how to treat girls. Captain isn't exactly adept in how to treat people he wants to like him or respect him. But you shouldn't leech off of people and lead them on. If someone really wants you to like them, they won't mind giving you treats to sway you. If you date someone just because they give you candy you like, and not because you actually like them, you'll end up hurting them."

Murasakibara is quiet for a moment, contemplative. He thinks about Kise, what he likes about Kise. Yes, Kise gave him lots of treats, especially when he wanted something in return, but there had been a lot of instances where the blond just gave him snacks for no real reason. He appreciated that, yes, but that isn't the only thing he likes about Kise. He likes how bright Kise is, how positive he is. His general disposition is light and cheerful, whereas people like Midorima and Aomine are heavy or dominating. Unlike the rest of their ex-teammates, the blond never tried to change anything about Murasakibara. Kise could be annoying, true, but he never meant any harm. And that isn't even mentioning the physical attraction the center feels for the other.

He focuses on Fukui again, giving him a lazy shrug. "You don't have to worry about that." The other Yosen student must find something genuine in his words, as he nods and drops the subject

Suddenly, the purple haired giant feels his phone vibrating in his pocket. He languidly pulls it out and flips open the small device to see who is calling. With mild surprise, he realizes it's Kise.

He answers the call and lifts the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Is Himuro with you?" Kise's voice rings out from the tiny speaker, tone hurried and borderline frazzled. "I need to talk to him, and I don't have his number, so…" He trails off expectantly.

Murasakibara glances at his teammate standing beside him. "Muro-chin's here." He says simply. Himuro looks up at the sound of his name, but Murasakibara doesn't do anything to acknowledge him.

There's a slight beat of silence before Kise speaks again. "… Can I talk to him, please?"

"I guess." He shoves the phone towards the dark haired teen. "It's Kise-chin." He clarifies when Himuro stares at him in bemusement. If anything, the information just makes him seem more confused.

"Um, hello?" He answers tentatively.

It's silent on Himuro's end as Murasakibara tries to listen in on the conversation. He can faintly hear Kise's voice through the small speaker, but it's not loud enough for him to pick out any words. He can gather that the topic isn't really something the dark haired teen beside him wants to hear, however, as Himuro's face pales and his pleasant expression cracks. "I'm sorry, you want me to _what_?"

The conversation isn't long, and concludes with Himuro quietly agreeing to meet somewhere. He hands the phone back over to Murasakibara. The younger teen eyes him curiously as he presses the phone to his ear. "Ne, Kise-chin, did you really call me just to talk to Muro-chin?"

"Sorry—I don't really have time to talk on the phone right now. But you'll come with Himuro-kun to see me at the studio, right?"

The purple haired giant glances at Himuro questioningly. "I guess." He answers.

"Great! See you soon!" Kise hangs up.

Himuro smiles, "I guess Kise wants us to… come see him while he's here in Akita." He explains, "You don't mind, do you?"

Murasakibara shrugs. There had to be more to the request, considering how Himuro had reacted. He doesn't question it, though, and listens as the raven continues to explain what Kise had told him. Apparently Kise was here to film for a commercial. The company had been very adamant about the blond's involvement in their new product's advertising, as they'd worked around many, many reschedules just to accommodate Kise. It still seems as if the older teen is keeping something from him.

"So," he says, wrapping up, "Do you want to go? Kise said there'd be free snacks," As if he needs to be enticed to go see Kise.

"Sure," he replies simply, and with that, they part from their upperclassmen and make their way to the directions Kise texts Murasakibara moments after the call. On the way, the giant tries to piece together why Kise had needed to talk to Himuro instead of him. Maybe Kise felt as though Himuro would better convince Murasakibara to come see him. He remembers the numerous times he'd passed off Kise's requests, either because it sounded boring or he simply didn't want to. Back then, he'd seen Kise nearly every day. Now, however, they rarely see each other at all.

The place isn't too far from their current location, and a quick bus ride is all it takes to get to the studio. The building's outside appearance is more modest than Murasakibara anticipates, but it's not unattractive. Contrary; the sleek and clean, yet rather plain is more inviting than something more glittery and fashionable.

Himuro leads the way inside the building, quickly walking up to the front desk. Murasakibara hangs back, lazily taking in the scenery. The inside décor feels rather impersonal, at least compared to what he might have been expecting. The color scheme is a simplistic white, gray, and black combo, the only splash of color being the woman behind the front desk, and even she isn't wearing much color.

After talking with her, Himuro walks over to his teammate. He hands him a black lanyard with a rectangle badge. "Someone will escort us to the studio." He says, slipping his own badge around his neck. "Have you visited Kise at work before?"

The giant shakes his head. "Too troublesome," he drawls. "It was never worth it when I already spent most of the school day with him."

Yosen's shooting guard winces slightly before offering a weak smile. "I guess we're in the same boat, then." Murasakibara doesn't understand the other's anxiety, so he simply shrugs.

It doesn't take much longer for a security guard to arrive and escort them into the elevator and up to the studio Kise's photo shoot is in. The walk there is silent. Murasakibara can read the nervous energy radiating off his teammate, even if the other does his best to hide it. He's curious enough at this point to inquire, but the elevator dings, signaling their arrival, and he supposes he'll get his answer soon enough.

The security guard hovers as an assistant working on the set leads them to where a woman the giant recognizes as Kise's manager and a man he doesn't know stand.

"You're Himuro-san, I'm assuming?" Kise's manager addresses the shorter of the two, appraising him with her eyes. "I'm Ichinomiya Kaori, Ryouta's manager."

He nods. "Himuro Tatsuya, nice to meet you."

The unknown man looks over the both of them in approval. Murasakibara narrows his eyes in confusion. "I'm glad you could show up on such short notice." He says. "My name is Mizushima Takuma. I'm the Promotional Director for Gaokin." This peaks Murasakibara's interest. Gaokin was one of his preferred snack companies. "We've been wanting Kise-kun specifically to advertise our new line of snacks, but he's been rather hard to pin down." Mizushima laughs good-naturedly. "We've already done the photoshoot, and we're filming the commercial today. We were scheduled to film it last week, but Kise-kun was sick, so we obviously rescheduled. Unfortunately, the other model can't make it. That's where you, Himuro-san, come in."

The cogs in the giant's head begin to turn, and he looks down at his companion. "Ne, Muro-chin, you should have just said you were helping Kise-chin."

Himuro's face goes red, and Yosen's center thinks this might be the first time he's seen the other so flustered. "I wasn't sure that was what Kise was calling about." He says, but Murasakibara knows that's a lie.

Kise's manager nods. "We'll get you in hair, makeup, and costume, then you'll be read to go. This shoot is rather simple, and you'll only have one or two lines. Ryouta will be doing most of the work."

Speak of the devil, following her statement is an enthusiastic call of, "Himuro-kun, Murasakibaracchi!" and Kise rushes over, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm _so_ happy to see you guys!"

Both Murasakibara and Himuro take a moment to process what the blond is _wearing_ before speaking. "Kise-chin, why are you a tiger?" Kaijou's small forward is dressed in a loose-fitted, orange-and-black onesie sporting a hood with rounded cat ears. There are thin black streaks in what can be seen of his airbrushed-orange hair, and his face is painted to look like a tiger's, complete with whiskers and cat-eyed contact lenses.

Nonetheless, the makeup can't hide the embarrassed blush that rises to his cheeks. "It's for the shoot," he explains. "I'm the tiger, and Himuro-kun will be the leopard." He raises his hands, as if to make a swiping motion with his fingers, and Murasakibara sees he's wearing gloves shaped like tiger paws.

The purple haired teen nods. "You look cute."

He's not sure, but he thinks Kise's face goes even redder. "A-anyway! Should I do my solo stuff now?"

"Go check in with the director." Ichinomiya tells him. "Murasakibara-san, if you don't mind, you can stay here and watch the shoot with Mizushima-san. Himuro-san, if you would follow me," And with that, the woman leads Himuro back to the dressing room while Kise leaves to find the director.

Although he doesn't look at the man, Murasakibara knows Mizushima is silently sizing him up. "Have you ever modeled before?"

"No." Didn't photoshoots have snack tables? If this was a shoot for Gaokin, there should be lots of snacks.

"Have you ever thought about it?"

"No." Didn't Himuro say there was going to be snacks? Murasakibara should have stopped at the convenience store before coming here.

"How long have you been friends with Kise-kun?"

"Three years." How long was this going to take? Murasakibara might have to leave to find some snacks if this was going to take a while. They had passed a convenience store on the way here, right?

"Ah, so you've known him since middle school, then?"

"…" What was with these questions? He wasn't looking to make small talk. The giant decides to cut the conversation by starting one of his own. "Are there any snacks?"

The man nods. "The company supplied some, as well as samples of the new product Kise-kun is advertising. The refreshment table is over there." He points, and Murasakibara walks off without another word.

He finds the table quickly enough, and proceeds to raid the various snacks. When he's satisfied with his choices for the moment, he looks up and sees he has a perfect view of the set. He sees Kise standing on the blue screen set taking directions from the director of the commercial. Kise's eyes are attentive as he listens. Murasakibara isn't used to seeing the blond look so focused off the basketball court. The director walks away, and Kise looks over at where Murasakibara is. He smiles brightly, and the purple haired giant offers a wave in return.

Kise's solo shoot doesn't take long. He doesn't have many lines, and he's able to perform them without needing many retakes. By the time Himuro returns, Kise has almost finished his solo scenes. Himuro approaches Murasakibara. His costume and makeup are similar to Kise's, simply re-patterned to look like a leopard. The shooting guard still sports his signature hair style, however. Murasakibara absently wonders if the other had fought to keep his hair like that, or if his hair simply refused to move.

The dark haired teen smiles sheepishly. "How ridiculous do I look?"

Murasakibara shrugs. "Not that bad," he says. "Your hair doesn't really match, though."

"The stylist said she liked it… and that she didn't have time to do anything with it." _Ah._

"Are you nervous?"

"Maybe a little bit," he admits.

"There's nothing to be nervous about!" Murasakibara turns and sees Kise walking over. He's smiling reassuringly as he moves to Himuro's side. "This shoot won't be difficult. Besides, I'll be there to help you out."

"Ryouta, Himuro-san," Kise's manager calls out, gesturing them over. Kise grins, grabs Himuro by the wrist, and pulls him over to the set.

As far as the shoot goes, it takes Himuro a while to get comfortable. Kise easily gets into his role, enough for Murasakibara to realize maybe Kise did have some acting skills. Himuro seemed to struggle with feeling embarrassed, but once he ditched those inhibitions, the scenes went rather smoothly. Nonetheless, they do several takes. Admittedly, it's quite boring. If he's honest, the giant is a bit disappointed with the subject of the commercial. Snacks were always good, yes, but the costumes aren't especially… to his liking. He would have liked it better if Kise's costume was more form-fitting, and showed off his impressive figure. Murasakibara wasn't one to think about that sort of stuff, but it's a little hard not to when he can imagine what Kise looks like under the loose costume.

He looks up from admiring the other's form and meets Kise's gaze. The blond gives the Yosen center a teasing smile, and Murasakibara cuts off that line of thought as effectively as he can. Instead he busies himself with the snack table.

"Himuro-san is doing a very nice job," Murasakibara notices Mizushima beside him, blinking dully in reply. "Of course, Kise-kun is making it pretty easy for him. He's very good at what he does, ne?"

"Mhm…" Murasakibara didn't pay much attention to Kise's modelling jobs in the past (unlike Aomine), so he can't really answer. But from the little that had been forced on him and what he'd seen today, he understood why the blond was so popular. His gaze roams back over to the stage, definitively _not_ making a displeased face when he sees Kise drape himself over Himuro's shoulders.

"Ryouta is a professional." Kise's manager speaks up, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "He'd likely be a lot more successful if he didn't let basketball distract him."

"He'll realize soon enough what's more important." Mizushima replies flippantly. "They always do."

Murasakibara frowns. "Basketball is important to Kise-chin." He refutes, not liking the way they casually dismiss something so central to the blond.

"For now," Ichinomiya agrees. "Ryouta won't stay with it forever. I'm surprised he's still playing." She sighs disinterestedly before walking back over to the set.

Mizushima peers at the teen with curiosity. Smile intact, he calls for a short break. Kise and Himuro are quick to rejoin the purple haired giant. Yosen's center wants to say something, but he can't get a word in as Kise continually praises Himuro over his performance so far. The raven haired teen doesn't accept the compliments, instead watching Murasakibara's reaction. The giant frowns lightly in irritation. When Kise pauses to take a breath, Murasakibara shoves a maiubo in the other's mouth. "Kise-chin, you're being too loud." He's not, at least not in comparison to how he usually is, but Murasakibara doesn't appreciate being ignored.

Kise stumbles back a step, surprised. He manages out an apology around the maiubo still in his mouth. He removes the snack, obviously not planning to eat it. "You could have done just said so, Murasakibaracchi." The blond grimaces, looking a bit hurt. The giant pats his hood-covered head in apology. The blond swats his hand away, "Don't touch the hood; you'll mess my hair up!" He whines, though there's no real annoyance in his tone.

"Ah, but it's so soft," Murasakibara comments, trying to tease the other. Kise pouts.

Himuro watches the exchange quietly, an absent smile on his lips. "You two are so childish." He comments. Kise is quick to protest, but Murasakibara doesn't do anything to refute the statement. Instead he takes the opportunity while Kise is distracted to pet his head again. The blond makes a noise of disapproval, but doesn't bother to do anything about it.

"So what do you think of the shoot so far?" Kise asks, changing the subject.

"Eh, the snacks are good."

Kise pouts. "And the shoot itself?" He prompts.

The giant shrugs. "It's fun, I guess."

The blond deflates a bit. "You 'guess'? That's not very convincing, you know!"

Murasakibara's head tilts to the side in thought. He wonders if it bothers Kise that none of his friends expressed any interest in his modelling. "I didn't know it took so much time and work for a commercial."

"Of course!" Kise agrees. "It's important to get the best shots possible." He looks pleased enough that his efforts have been recognized. "What do you think, Himuro-kun?"

"Well," Himuro offers a smile. "It was a bit awkward at first, but it's fun. I admit, though, that I can't wait to get this makeup off."

Kise nods sympathetically. "It gets annoying after a while. But I don't think we have much more to do."

"I hope so," Himuro glances towards Murasakibara, an unreadable look on his face. Kise only smiles in reply.

Murasakibara finally lets his hand fall from Kise's head, careful not to pull the hood down. As soft as the hood is, he thinks it would be better to pet Kise's hair instead. "Good. I wanna go home soon."

"Himuro-kun," The three look over to see Kise's manager approaching. "We just have your solo scenes left. Ryouta, I'd like you over here as well."

"Ah, I guess I'll be back," Himuro walks back towards the set. Kise waves to Murasakibara as he leaves. The giant sighs. Honestly, this is the first time he's felt this annoyed at being left alone.

Thankfully, the shoot wraps up quickly enough (though not as quick as Murasakibara would prefer). Kise and Himuro were sent to the dressing rooms to take off the makeup and change back into their own clothes. Murasakibara had decided to wait until they came and found him, but he soon grows impatient and searches them out. He approaches the dressing room, but pauses just outside the door when he hears voices.

"You're being selfish." Although muffled by the wall, Himuro's voice is otherwise clear and strong.

There's a slight pause before Kise responds. "What do you mean?"

"You think he doesn't talk to me about you? You realize you're just pulling them both along to your whims, don't you? They're catering to you, and you're not giving any consideration to them whatsoever." Himuro accuses.

"'Catering'…?"

"The only reason we're even here is because you've got Atsushi wrapped around your finger."

"That's not true—,"

"What, do you think he's here for the snacks, the experience? For me?"

"Why do you care what I do?" Kise snaps. "It's not your business. We aren't even close friends. You don't have the right to criticize me like this. Besides, it's not my fault if Murasakibaracchi would rather hang out with me than you."

The giant hears a loud thud, and decides to make his presence known. He doesn't bother to knock as he pulls open the door. The sight that greets him is not one he expected to see. Kise is on the ground, holding the right side of his face. Himuro stands over him, fists clenched, and his head slowly turns towards the door. The other Yosen ace's only visible eye widens in horror.

"Atsushi," he breathes.

Murasakibara ignores him, walking over to Kise and offering him a hand. The blond accepts the gesture, letting the giant help him to his feet. He seems surprised, but otherwise alright. Nonetheless, the giant still asks, "Are you okay?"

Kise nods. "Yeah, I'm fine." The giant nods. The blond looks over at Himuro, but the dark haired teen is staring solely at his teammate. Murasakibara refuses to meet his gaze. "Um, I have to get to the station, but I don't mind if you want to walk with me." Kise says, and Murasakibara can see the way he covers up his lingering discomfort.

The purple haired giant nods. "Sure." He tilts his head back, still not looking at his teammate as he addresses him. "You can go back without me, ne?"

"Atsushi, hold on," Himuro says, his voice stronger this time. Murasakibara looks at him this time, glaring as their eyes meet. Himuro flinches before a hurt look flashes in his visible eye. "T-that's fine," he replies shortly, and Murasakibara pretends he doesn't feel guilty. Himuro deserves it, after all. The dark haired teen forces a smile that appears natural enough and leaves before either can say anything else.

Kise blinks after the dark haired teen until he turns into the hallway and out of sight. He looks up at Murasakibara and offers a weak smile. "I guess we should get going." Yosen's center nods. Kise grabs his bag and they exit the studio.

Although the blond usually leaves no room for silence, he doesn't talk much on their way out of the building. In fact, he doesn't say a full sentence until after Murasakibara asks, "Does your face hurt?" It's starting to swell already. He thinks it might bruise.

Kise gives a short laugh, raising a hand to his cheek. "No, it's alright. I deserved it anyway."

"Muro-chin has a bit of a violent streak," Murasakibara says.

Kise doesn't say anything in response to that, pausing for a moment. "Sorry to drag you into my photo shoot," he apologizes. "That probably wasn't how you wanted to spend your evening."

Murasakibara shrugs. "I didn't mind. It was good to see you again."

Kise gives a slight laugh. "Yeah, I was talking to Akashicchi about how little we see each other now." The center frowns slightly at the mention of their former captain. Besides maybe Kuroko, Akashi was the person he trusted the least with Kise. Although he might argue otherwise, the Rakuzan captain wasn't above breaking his own rules when things came down to the wire. Akashi isn't desperate, but Murasakibara knows the redhead wouldn't let himself get to that state. If Akashi feels threatened, he doesn't hold back.

While he wants to keep the conversation away from their former teammates, Murasakibara is somewhat inclined to see if he can find if Kise likes any of them. The only way to do that is to get the blond talking. "How is Aka-chin doing?"

"He's doing well." Kise answers. "I, uh, was sick the day I went to see him, and so there's probably a lot he said that I don't remember. But he seemed to be doing good." The blond pauses, "He's more like he used to be, you know? I didn't realize how much I missed that." He shrugs, and Murasakibara notices the way his face goes red and he looks away. "Uh, but I guess that's just me missing Teikou. Not that I don't like Kaijou or anything. It's only natural to miss your old team, right?"

"I guess," Murasakibara didn't think about it much. The move from Teikou to Yosen felt like natural progression. "Sacchin said you've been hanging out with Mine-chin and Kuro-chin a lot."

"Well, Aominecchi and Kurokocchi are my best friends." He answers. "And you know I'd come see you more if we didn't live so far apart. Speaking of Aominecchi, I don't suppose you've talked to him recently?"

"Nope." That's a slight lie, but it wasn't as though he and Aomine ever made meaningful conversation.

Kise hums in acknowledgement. "He's been acting…weird lately. Like, clingy and stuff." The blond purses his lips. "I just wish he'd chill out a bit."

Murasakibara takes a moment to consider his words. This could be his opportunity to sway how Kise perceives the others' actions and behavior. He needs to determine the right way to do it. "Maybe Mine-chin misses Teikou."

"Maybe…" Kise doesn't look convinced. But after a moment, he seems to resolve himself. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Kurokocchi and Midorimacchi were kind of acting the same way."

The giant nods. "Mido-chin is trying to grow out of his tsundere personality, and Kuro-chin just wants us to be friends again." Those were plausible explanations for their possible behavior.

Kise nods once, offering a smile. "And what about you?"

"Hm?"

"You've been exceptionally patient today." He explains. "You never come to my photo shoots, and you didn't seem especially interested in the snacks. So I can only assume you had some other reason for being there."

"Ah, I wanted to see you." Murasakibara answers simply. He decides to be open and honest. "I miss being with Kise-chin." Kise's head turns to the side, away from the Yosen center, but the purple haired teen still sees red spread across the blond's cheeks. As much as this was an excuse to dissuade Kise's opinion on the others, it was also an equal opportunity to express his own feelings. "Because I like Kise-chin."

He sees the way Kise hesitate before looking back up at the purple haired center. The blond smiles, and he can't tell if it's genuine or forced. "I miss hanging out with you guys too. We should do more stuff together, ne?"

"I guess," Murasakibara tries not to express his disappointment over Kise misunderstanding what he had said. Kise's current disposition bothers him, however, and so he doesn't bother trying to correct him.

"Mizushima-san seemed interested in you," Kise says. "I know he was impressed with Himuro-kun's work, considering he had never done anything like that before. I'm sure he'll request the two of us for more jobs—and maybe you too." When his expression softens, Murasakibara knows the sincerity has returned to the blond's side of the conversation. "I… I don't want to need an excuse to contact you. But that's hard when you live so far away."

Murasakibara doesn't say anything, doesn't really know what to say. Kise is right, after all, and there isn't anything he can do to change that. They do live a lot farther apart than they used to, and it's hard to find the time to see each other between school, basketball, and Kise's job. And while Kise's job brought them together today, it proved to keep the blond away from his friends more often than not. There wouldn't be many opportunities for them to get together because of chance, or because Kise's agency needed someone to fill in for a shoot. All things considered, it would be relatively impossible for them to hope for something like that to happen again.

The Yosen center doesn't know how to further voice his thoughts. Kise keeps misunderstanding what he's trying to say, so maybe verbal communication isn't worth it. His hand meets the top of Kise's head again, resting in golden strands of hair. Amber eyes look up at the taller teen.

"It'll work out," the giant promises quietly. Kise nods, glancing back down at the ground. The taller teen's large hand falls to the other's shoulder, and he can feel the way Kise's frame shudders as the blond pulls in a deep breath. "Ne… next time Muro-chin visits Kaga-chin, why don't we meet up too?"

A laugh pulls from Kise's chest, and he stops walking. He looks up at Murasakibara, eyes thoughtful and bright. "You're being really kind today. Are those candies sweetening your attitude?" Murasakibara only gives him a shrug. Kise grins loosely. "Either way, I'd really like that."

Murasakibara nods. Though his communication and face-o-face contact with Kise is limited in comparison to the others who live closer, it's where his advantage lies. He can give Kise so much now. He can give him so much, only him, whereas the others have already given him what they already give each other.

He keeps his arm around the blond's shoulders, tugging him to keep walking. "Are you sure you have to go? You could just stay in my dorm if you want."

"Haha! Sorry, but I've really gotta get back home. I've been travelling enough this week. Even I need some time to myself!"

"Hmm…" Murasakibara isn't sure how much he believes that. Nonetheless, he knows he can't keep the other any longer. They're already in sight of the train station. He wants to spend more time with Kise, doesn't feel like he's come close to satiating his need to be in the other's presence, but he lets go of Kise's shoulder. "I'll come see you soon."

"I'll hold you to it." Kise answers. "Talk soon, okay? I promise you don't need a reason to text me."

"Right."

Kise smiles, though melancholy softens the edges of his expression. "See you later."

"Wait," He closes a hand around the other's wrist. He reaches down into the bag slung over his shoulder, digging around until he finds what he wants. He places a snack bar into Kise's open palm. "You didn't have any snacks at the studio, ne? This should keep you from getting hungry until you get home."

The Kaijou ace breathes out a surprised laugh, his hand closing around the snack as Murasakibara lets go of his arm. The smile on the blond's face turns fond, any trace of sadness leaving his expression. "Thanks," he says before walking away, leaving Murasakibara to watch him go.

* * *

><p>I'm convinced Himuro has anger issues; he punched like two or three people in the anime.<br>Gaokin is a play on Yaokin, the company who distributes umaibo (which Fujimaki based maiubo off of). "Gao" is the onomatopoeia for the roar of a tiger (or pretty much any animal that roars), so I thought it would be kinda cute. All of this is just an excuse to put Kise in a tiger costume. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  
>So next chapter might be a Kuroko chapter? IDK. Do you guys want to see more KiKuro moments? I'm not sure that pairing is as popular as I think it is, haha. Actually, I'm very interested to know which pairings you guys want to see more of. Now that everyone's gotten at least a little involved, who seems the most likely to win over Kise's affections?<p> 


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